It's Throwback Thursday! with Treasure Island
Who needs Captain Jack Sparrow when Long John Silver has been around for over 100 years and was way cooler anyways? Besides being a villainous murderer, Long John Silver had an awesome parrot named Captain Flint (after an old, very mean pirate captain) on his shoulder spouting "pieces of eight, pieces of eight" at opportune times throughout the novel. Pirate pop culture 101! Silver was missing a leg from an old naval battle and hopped about with a crutch waving swords and pistols! He lied to hero Jim Hawkins, committed mutiny against good Captain Smollett and still made off with bountiful booty at the end of the story! Long John Silver is simply a pirate rock star. Seriously though, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is a fun book for boys ages 8 to 88 and is truly a classic of not only children's literature, but literature in general. Robert Louis Stevenson knew his way around a ship and it shows in his writing. Besides The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this is Stevenson's most popular work and is as important today as it was in 1883 when it was first published in book form.(It was originally serialized in Young Folks magazine in 1881-1882) Shiver me timbers! Treasure Island is THE pirate book of all pirate books. #tbt Dan @ Washington Park