This adventure novel follows young Jim Hawkins on a sea voyage to find buried pirate treasure. The ship's cook, Long John Silver, hides a dangerous plan behind his friendly manner.
250 pages 4h 51m reading time
One of the most famous adventure stories ever written, and the book that shaped how most people picture pirates.
Imagines a villain who is charming, clever, and even likable, so the reader is never sure whether to fear Silver or cheer for him.
Shows a boy growing up by learning that adults can't always be trusted and that he must make his own hard choices.
Gave the world many pirate images we still use today, including treasure maps marked with an X, one-legged sailors with parrots, and the "black spot" as a death threat.
Inspired dozens of films, stage plays, and TV shows, and set the pattern for the pirate stories that followed, from "Peter Pan" to "Pirates of the Caribbean."
Began as a family game
Stevenson drew a treasure map with his stepson on a rainy day, then wrote a story around it.
Written for a boy
He read each new chapter aloud to his young stepson, who asked for no women in the story.
First printed in pieces
It first ran in a children's magazine under a fake name, and few readers noticed it then.
A friend inspired Silver
Stevenson said he based Long John Silver on his friend W. E. Henley, a writer who had lost a leg.
