The Coral Island

View other editions of The Coral Island.
View books by R. Ballantyne.

Beware! - Rated
Although this is a great book, it is heavily abridged and censored from the original version. This is probably a good thing if you are buying the book for a child to read, as all of the shockingly racist terms have been removed, but is not helpful if you are studying the text! I bought the book for my English Lit degree and found nothing to indicate that it was abridged or censored until the lecture when it became apparent that whole sections of the book were missing. So, make sure you buy the appropriate edition and enjoy!

Wonderful, Beautiful. - Rated
This is a book to warm your heart and which, once read, will always hold special meaning.

It's a simple enough story which is really aimed at young boys, but it has enough depth of feeling, information and good old fashioned wonder to keep any reader enthralled.

The book does lose some momentum toward the end, but it is definately a world which you are always happy to enter into and never keen to leave - and in many ways, you need never do so.

Simple, wonderful, humourous and observant, and indicative of a place and time in history that may never have existed, except in stories.

Wonderful, Beautiful. - Rated
This is a book to warm your heart and which, once read, will always hold special meaning.

It's a simple enough story which is really aimed at young boys, but it has enough depth of feeling, information and good old fashioned wonder to keep any reader enthralled.

The book does lose some momentum toward the end, but it is definately a world which you are always happy to enter into and never keen to leave - and in many ways, you need never do so.

Simple, wonderful, humourous and observant, and indicative of a place and time in history that may never have existed, except in stories.

a typical boyish adventure easy to become engrossed in - Rated
This book I felt initially was too old fashioned for me to read. It appears to be all too happy and cheery. Yet once you begin to read the book you appreciate it for what it is. It is a boyish adventure written at a time when there was faith in the world and it was believed that there was good in all. I now feel that this book is very well written. It shows a side to these boys that now in Lord of the Flies by William Golding and The Beach by Alex Garland seem to feel no longer exists. It shows faith in humans and I feel that it is a book that if taken for what it is is a very enjoyable book.