The Coral Island

By R. M. Ballantyne

Three boys, fifteen-year-old Ralph Rover, eighteen-year-old Jack Martin, and fourteen-year-old Peterkin Gay, are the sole survivors of a shipwreck on the coral reef of a large but uninhabited Polynesian island. At first their life on the island is idyllic; food, in the shape of fruits, fish and wild pigs, is plentiful, and using their only possessions, a broken telescope, an iron-bound oar and a small axe, they fashion a shelter and even construct a small boat.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wilder Publications, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 9, 2013
• ISBN: 9781627552073

R. M. Ballantyne

Robert Michael Ballantyne (24 April 1825 – 8 February 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-colours at the Royal Scottish Academy. (Wikipedia)

Reviews for The Coral Island

[themulhern · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The earlier parts of this book are fun. Like his successor Robert Louis Stephenson, Ballantyne was very good at vivid descriptions of ocean, waves, islands, storms, vegetation, etc. The second half of the book is very different from the first; in the first, the boys are all alone on the island and cooperate with the utmost cheer in making a safe and comfortable life for themselves in spite of danger from animals and weather, in the second, they must cope with the outside world in the form of natives, pirates, and missionaries. Then they go home.The whole book has an extremely simple and untheological Christian message: Christianity is good, belief is good and will help you. There are no fine questions of theology on which our hero, Ralph, must exercise his mind. This makes the book very different from the Narnia books, which are drenched in theological metaphor.Some of the cover images are misleading; Jack, the eldest of the boys, is already 18 when they are shipwrecked, well-grown and strong. Only Peterkin, at 12 or 13, could be expected to look boyish. Nonetheless, much of the cover art makes all three look roughly 10 years old.

[electrascaife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A member of the Boys Stranded on a Deserted Island genre, this one rolls along pretty well, although it gets surprisingly dark toward the end. Still, a fun-enough read.

[justmum · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very dated nontheless quite a good read

[debnance_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another 1001 book read. Adventure. Action. Pirates. Cannibals. Murder. Treasure. Mystery. What more does a book need?

[ctpress_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An enjoyable boys adventure story set on some remote Island in the Pacific Ocean, where three teenagers are shipwrecked. After some time of Robinson Crusoe-like experiences they are intangled in some nasty tribal wars and tries to rescue a young woman from being executed. The latter part of the novel are dealing with some missionaries who try to convert the "heathens". There are some very gruesome and graphic detailed descriptions in the novel that surprised me a lot. The moral of the story are not told in a subtle way - no doubt about the Christian and Victorian virtues that are being instilled in the young reader of that day.Ballantyne wrote numerous novels of this kind, but Coral Island is one of his most famous.

[chrisnewton-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I must admit I got into this crazy mid-Victorian jingoistic evangelical boy's adventure story.

[chris_el-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great boys book about a few boys shipwrecked on an island. Kind of a cross between Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe.

[garrison0550 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great little adventure story. One that anyone who likes to read, should read. Ballantyne has many more worth reading - Martin Rattler, Sunk at Sea, The Young Fur Traders, and The Dog Crusoe and His Master, just to name a few.

[ma_washigeri · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not really sure what I think. Picked up from a shelf of second hand books in a Pembrokeshire cafe. Last read from the library when I was 10 or 11. I loved the first half - almost a manual on how to survive on a coral island in the South Seas. Enjoyed the pirate interlude as a bit of a change. Loathed the last bit of cannibals and christians. However the language is delicious throughout.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Would have been good had it not been for ridiculously long detailed descriptive entries and the whole beat-you-over-the-head Christian bent. Take out the more egregious examples of both and this would be a good boy's adventure story.

[petra5xs · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I went to primary school at four and a half, into Mrs. Whitcombe's class. Everything was miniature, including Mrs. Whitcombe who was a little person. We sat on our little chairs at our little desks and got out our little books. Janet and John. It was quite glorious except that I had read the whole year's Janet and John primers by morning break (a very little bottle of milk and a digestive biscuit). The only other books in the classroom were Treasure Island, Swiss Family Robinson and Coral Island. So for the rest of the term I read those. Coral Island was the first. A wonderful introduction to a world of adventure and interesting personalities far, far from my tiny Welsh village. And of course I was hooked on reading.

[traveller1_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A gift from my childhood, in fact I cannot recall the story in detail, but I remember I re-read this several times. Great fun. Nor this cover, a cover with an orange sky and the 3 lads.

[goldengrove_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Great Boy's Own style adventure - the British lad wins out against all unpleasantness and low behaviour!

[gmillar_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think this was Mr. Ballantyne' fourth book and his first foray into the Pacific. His previous books had been about Canada and the Hudson Bay Company's life style. This was my dad's favourite Ballantyne. I read it as a kid myself and liked it. I guess that it, and my dad's connection with it, got me interested in Ballantynes and started the collection. The three friends in this story turn up again in a later book, The Gorilla Hunters. Here they are shipwrecked on a ......coral island.