Voice of Youth Advocates (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

These two graphic format adaptations make an adequate introduction for young middle school readers to classic literature. The simple, illustrated, abridged format makes these well-known stories a start for reluctant readers. The story lines are faithful to the original texts but presented mostly in a very static first-person narration and are significantly condensed. All prominent characters from each novel and the settings are replicated, but the condensation often makes the story somewhat choppy. Treasure Island is an exciting adventure story of a young boy who finds a treasure map in the chest of a guest at this mother's inn. He joins a sailing crew to search for the treasure and must learn to survive among the brutal pirates and the terrifying hard life on the sea. Oliver Twist is the story of a nineteenth-century orphan who is forced to work in a brutal workhouse and then escapes to London where he joins a group of young thieves until he is adopted by a generous benefactor. The titles incorporate mediocre colored comic-style illustrations, with dialogue balloons or split frames, and are illustrated in a conventional comic style that uses sequential panels containing both art and text. Each title also features a brief biography and time line of its author and a list of his important works. These books are suitable for classroom use or for readers at a junior high school level who have an interest or need to read classic titles, but there are other abridged illustrated classic publications that would be a better choice for a library or school.-Eileen Kuhl.

Horn Book (Tue Feb 28 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Stevenson's classic swashbuckling adventure is presented here in an unabridged edition. The same few scratchboard illustrations of Long John Silver and a handful of other characters are used throughout the volume. A list of questions, most of them open-ended ("Do you think Jim is only a boy? Or has he become a man?"), closes the book.

School Library Journal

Gr 2-6-In this retelling of Stevenson's classic story, each spread is structured as a chapter and provides a short story arc within the larger tale. The elements of suspense or triumph that close each chapter compel readers to turn the page for the next piece of the story. However, the graphic storytelling leaves much to be desired, especially in the essential layout and presentation. The pages are comprised of a series of mostly wordless panels, depicting tight close-ups of the characters as their situations are described in captions paraphrasing Stevenson's prose with none of its luster. When dialogue does appear, it is placed artificially at the top of each panel despite the fact that it is almost universally meant to follow the caption it precedes, creating a dissonant reading experience. Vocabulary is defined in footnotes, and a handful of concluding pages provide some context for Stevenson's life and background on the novel. The volume may well provide young readers with a desired dose of pirates, but this attempt has not bent the format to fit the vintage tale. Try the version adapted and illustrated by Tim Hamilton, instead (Puffin, 2005).-Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School, NH Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

ALA Booklist

One forgets how much modern tales of swashbuckling owe to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic. MacDonald's retelling, an entry in Barron's Graphic Classics series, has all the important elements: the daring young apprentice, the tricky old seadog, the ruthless band of pirates, and, of course, buried treasure. Unfortunately, the pages are a bit too tightly packed, and each panel is overcaptioned with dry prose, which dilutes the tale's excitement and spectacle. The full-color art is highly detailed and realistically gritty, and the power of the narrative is impossible to suppress. A way into a classic for reluctant readers, this book, suggested for larger collections, is also a good reminder of what a rousing pirate yarn is all about. Footnotes on seagoing terms, background on the story and on Stevenson himself, and notes on pirates in the movies round out the book. Other adaptations in the series include Oliver Twist and Moby Dick.