Cover art: Louis Rhead, 1915

Treasure Island

Name: Treasure Island
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson

Estimated B2619 min · 69 parts · 140 words to learn

An old sailor dies at a seaside inn and leaves a map behind. Soon the boy who found it is at sea with a crew he cannot trust.

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About the book

Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure, serialised for a boys' magazine in 1881–82 and published as a book in 1883. Young Jim Hawkins helps run the Admiral Benbow inn on the English coast until an old sailor dies there and leaves behind a chest holding a treasure map. Jim sails on the Hispaniola to find it, but half the crew are pirates, led by the charming, one-legged cook Long John Silver. Much of our picture of pirates comes from this book.

Reading it as a learner

A long read at an estimated B2: about 68,000 words in 34 chapters and 69 parts, roughly ten hours in all. Jim tells the story himself, in plain and lively English, but the sailors speak in dialect, and ship vocabulary (“mast”, “deck”, “anchor”, “helm”) arrives fast. Learn those words early and the sea chapters become much easier. The pace rarely drops, which helps you keep going through a longer book.

Chapter 1
The Old Sea-dog at the “Admiral Benbow”
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 2
Black Dog Appears and Disappears
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 3
The Black Spot
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 4
The Sea-chest
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 5
The Last of the Blind Man
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 6
The Captain’s Papers
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 7
I Go to Bristol
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 8
At the Sign of the Spy-glass
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 9
Powder and Arms
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 10
The Voyage
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 11
What I Heard in the Apple-Barrel
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 12
Council of War
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 13
How I Began My Shore Adventure
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 14
The First Blow
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 15
The Man of the Island
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 16
Narrative Continued by the Doctor: How the Ship Was Abandoned
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 17
Narrative Continued by the Doctor: The Jolly-boat’s Last Trip
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 18
Narrative Continued by the Doctor: End of the First Day’s Fighting
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 19
Narrative Resumed by Jim Hawkins: The Garrison in the Stockade
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 20
Silver’s Embassy
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 21
The Attack
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 22
How I Began My Sea Adventure
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 23
The Ebb-tide Runs
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 24
The Cruise of the Coracle
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 25
I Strike the Jolly Roger
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 26
Israel Hands
1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
Chapter 27
“Pieces of Eight”
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 28
In the Enemy’s Camp
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 29
The Black Spot Again
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 30
On Parole
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 31
The Treasure-hunt—Flint’s Pointer
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 32
The Treasure-hunt—The Voice Among the Trees
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 33
The Fall of a Chieftain
1. 1
2. 2
Chapter 34
And Last
1. 1
2. 2

About the book

Reading it as a learner

Contents