The Coral Island (Puffin Classics)

by R.M. Ballantyne

Book Overview

When the three sailor lads, Ralph, Jack and Peterkin are cast ashore after the storm, their first task is to find out whether the island is inhabited. Their next task is to find a way of staying... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140367616
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Puffin
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

The Coral Island (Hardcover) by R. M. Ballantyne

The Coral Island (Hardcover) by R. M. Ballantyne This is a wonderful book filled full of adventure with 3 boys marooned on a South Pacific Island in the 1800's. I read this as a young teenager and now in my 50's it is still wonderful to read. A must to have for those who like adventure.

A wonderful, exciting adventure!

I loved this book, it had everything, suspense, intrigue and a desert island. It is really a classic, everyone should read it, I read it in high school and I recently purchased another copy to have for my kids. Anyone can love this book!

This is timeless

I read "The Coral Island" after reading Lord of the Flies. William Golding used Coral Island as the foundation for his book. The common elements are a desert island, boys named Jack, Ralph, and Peterkin (who he renamed Simon \biblical/). It then goes in a completely different direction by having the boys in LOTF decend into man's terrible nature (Golding's view). I am intrigued by Golding's view given his religious background, but that is a subject for a different review. Knowing that Golding "updated" Coral Island I read it to see the comparisons. What a delightful surprise! The Coral Island is a great read (I've had two sons and two daughters read it since). Some people seem to be bothered by its religous undertones. I think some people are offended by the mere mention of anything christian in the public square. The abridged editions take out some of the Christian teachings - I wished they hadn't, it would only add to the flavor of the story. Most people reading it will not see it as a religious story, rather, just a fun and fast paced action story with a good sense of morality. Golding apparently read this book as a child and when he wanted to restate the human condition used the original story to show how boys would really react if stranded on an island - I like Ballantyne's view better!

Who was Ballantyne's informant??

R.M.Ballantyne never visited the Pacific but the colorful fiction he wrote in England circa 1843 became a major influence on children's literature. Young Robert Louis Stevenson was a great admirer of R.M.Ballantyne. "Lord of the Flies" was a 20th Century response to the 19th Century genre of altruistic boy's adventure stories that followed Ballantyne's highly successful novel "The Coral Island". Where did Ballantyne get his information? Relatively few Europeans had visited the area he clearly described between Fiji & Samoa prior to the 1840s. Perhaps he got specific detailed accounts from an earlier book or from missionaries, whalers or members of the Wilkes or Belcher expeditions who may have visited the Lau Islands and then England prior to 1843 (please, does anyone know?). Much of the action in Ballantyne's novel takes place on an island called "Mango" inhabited by fierce natives. That was apparently Mago Island in the Northern Lau Group in Fiji whose native population was displaced in the 1860s when Europeans moved in. Coincidentally it was three adventuresome young brothers who purchased Mago and landed there in their own boat a couple of decades after "The Coral Island" was written. Had they read Ballantyne's novel?? They made a fortune growing sea island cotton during the American Civil War. Mago Island and the plantation pioneered by the young Ryder brothers is today owned by the Tokyu Corporation of Japan and is practically uninhabited.

Excellent Book for Young Teenage Boys! Really grabs them.

I read this book when I was about 13 years old I am now 51. This book turned me from a boredyoung teenager to a world traveler (thru reading), and a dedicated reader.