Robert Louis Stevenson 
Treasure Island 

The piratical coming of age of Jim Hawkins, who discovers a map of Treasure Island among an old sea captain’s possessions – and then follows it. Parrots, ‘pieces of eight’ and the lovable, but morally ambiguous Long John Silver.Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of ‘buccaneers and buried gold’. First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children’s magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island or, the mutiny of the Hispaniola with Stevenson adopting the pseudonym Captain George North.Traditionally considered a coming-of-age story, Treasure Island is an adventure tale known for its atmosphere, characters and action, and also as a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality — as seen in Long John Silver — unusual for children’s literature then and now. It is one of the most frequently dramatized of all novels.The influence of Treasure Island on popular perceptions of pirates is enormous, including treasure maps marked with an ‘X’, schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen carrying parrots on their shoulders.