Classic Adventures Treasure Island, the ‘classics’ that ages 7 and up will want to read.

Go read the classics, that’s what you think to yourself as you navigate the literary world of your elementary school student. You think that until you realize the number of distractions that they have, you didn’t. Now, factor in that the classics you wistfully want them to read are at a reading level that’s too advanced and can be a little boring at times for those eight-year-old readers. Classic Adventures’ Treasure Island is by Robert Louis Stevenson, but this version is adapted by Jacqueline Dembar Greene and it’s got illustrations that were done by Carlo Molinari.

The kicker with the Classic Adventure series by Starry Forest is they are approachable, fun to read, and at a level that ages eight and up will be able to digest. I can hear those eye rolls all the way over here, and I was skeptical too. However, these books are presented to where many fourth-grade students can read them and most of those fifth-grade students can read them. Moreover, they’ll be able to read them without any assistance. Sure, they’ll be able to read them, but will they want to?

Want, in this instance is relative. Certainly, some readers will want to read Treasure Island, The Wizard of Oz, or any of the others in the Classic Adventures lineup. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that elementary-aged readers won’t have as many reasons to tell parents or those adults near them that they don’t want to read it. And, as any educator or parent will tell you, the fewer hurdles there are in the way of a kid doing something that’s otherwise not a stick in the eye, the better.

Each chapter in the Classic Adventures book has about five pages of text, and an illustration or two. The illustrations are realistic and retain the spirit of the original story. That’s an important detail because when you hear that Treasure Island is presented in a package that’s OK for upper elementary school readers one might think that it’s a baby version of the classic story. This is not a baby interpretation of the classics. Instead, it’s a slimmed-down version of classics that clock in around 65 pages, including illustrations.

The chapters provide young readers with the confidence that they can read more advanced, early chapter books. These are books that any adult will know and appreciate the fact that they’re presented in the way that they were intended. It’s also that intelligence that those young readers will appreciate it, they just won’t be able to state it as such.

Our 10 YO reluctant reader, went on to enjoy The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which was presented in the same manner and was equally as enjoyable. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Anne of Green Gables, Black Beauty, and many others are also available from Starry Forest.

Classic Adventures Treasure Island is by Robert Louis Stevenson, this edition is by Jacqueline Dembar Greene, with illustrations by Carlo Molinari, and available on Starry Forest Books.

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