The Coral Island by R.M. Ballantyne, Fiction, Literary, Action & Adventure - Softcover

Ballantyne, R. M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1592245064 ISBN 13: 9781592245062

Publisher: Wildside Press, 2003

Synopsis

One night, soon after we entered the tropics, an awful storm burst upon our ship. The first squall of wind carried away two of our masts, and left only the foremast standing. There was no room for me upon the lifeboat; but being left behind saved my life -- and the lives of Peterkin and Jack Martin, my two companions. "Come, boys," said Jack Martin in a grave tone as we stood on the quarterdeck awaiting our fate -- "You see it is impossible that the little boat can reach the shore, crowded with men." He had us take hold of a loose oar, and guided us to shelter on a deserted coral isle. . . . . . . and that is the beginning of my harrowing tale. The novel was still considered a classic for English primary school children in the early 20th century. In the United States it was long a staple of suggested reading lists for high-school students; such a list, discussed in a 1915 article in The English Journal, recommends the novel in the category "Stories for Boys in Easy Style".

About this title

About the Author:

Robert Michael Ballantyne (1825 - 1894) was a Scottish author of juvenile fiction who wrote more than 100 books. He was also an accomplished artist and exhibited some of his water-colors at the Royal Scottish Academy. Ballantyne went to Canada aged 16 and spent five years working for the Hudson's Bay Company. He traded with the local Native Americans for furs, which required him to travel by canoe and sleigh to the areas occupied by the modern-day provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, experiences that formed the basis of his novel Snowflakes and Sunbeams (1856). His longing for family and home during that period impressed him to start writing letters to his mother. Ballantyne recalled in his autobiographical Personal Reminiscences in Book Making (1893) that "To this long-letter writing I attribute whatever small amount of facility in composition I may have acquired." In 1856 Ballantyne gave up job working for a publishing firm to focus on his literary career and began the series of adventure stories for the young with which his name is popularly associated. The Coral Island (1857) and more than 100 other books followed in regular succession, his rule being in every case to write as far as possible from personal knowledge of the scenes he described.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1592245064
• ISBN 13: 9781592245062
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296