| Book Review | ||
The Coral Island |
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| . | By R
M Ballantyne |
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| My Grancha recommended this book to me. He read it when he was a boy
and said that I should give it a go. It tells the story of 3 boys who get shipwrecked on
the Coral Islands of the South Seas. They have to learn to survive and overcome many
dangers such as pirates and cannibals and violent storms. The island seems like it is a paradise, and in many ways it is, however .... dangers lie ahead. The island is visited by bloodthirsty cannibals; a war party chasing their victims. The boys cannot watch the women and children be slaughtered but what can they do? Even when their island seems safely deserted, there are still many dangers for them to encounter. Innocent boating fun turns deadly when the dreaded dorsal fin of a predatory shark is seen flashing through the reef! The island is, however, still a beautiful place full of tropical foods and enchanting animals. The boys can bathe in their lagoon and bask in the sun. There are even islands to explore with baby penguin colonies to visit. They find the penguins to be very amusing but, unfortunately, their trip back to their own island is not so simple. Later, they encounter villainous pirates, determined to hunt them down and recruit them as crew members aboard their filthy ship. The boys survive it all using good sense and clever thinking. Their friendship is strong and nothing can get in the way of it. They look out for each other and they are patient with each other. I do not think they really quarrelled once in the whole book! My favourite character had to be Peterkin, the youngest boy, because I found him to be funny. I liked all three boys very much. Jack is the eldest and he can be very daring. He "knows" a lot of things and often teaches the other two how to do things. Ralph is the person who is telling the story to the reader. It is written in the first person and we are told a lot about Ralph's thoughts and feelings. There were many parts that I particularly liked
in this book but one that made me laugh a lot was where the "friendly" cannibals
were surfing on wooded planks. Every so often, when the tide came in, it would crash on
the rocks around their island and create a big wave that they would clamber to ride. If
they did not fall off the wave while they were riding it, they got flung into the tree
tops! It made me think of all these native cannibals surfing along in Bermuda shorts with
guitar music playing This book was written a long time ago - the author is Victorian! - yet it is still very good to read today. It grips you and you get dragged into the story by your nose (my teacher likes to say that!). You begin to care for the characters and you feel like you are there with them and taking part in their games and adventures. There are other books by this author but only this one is a "classic", I do not know why but if I saw any more by him I would definitely read them. It is not a difficult text to read (but there are some words you might need to look up the meaning of) so most children of 8 or more would enjoy it - even adults. Iestyn Evans - August 2000 |
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