The Coral Island by Ballantyne is a delightful older adventure story set in Victorian times. Young Ralph, who comes from a long line of seafarers, sets out on his first voyage. On board ship, he quickly becomes friends with Jack (18) and Peterkin (14 I believe). While in the South Pacific, their ship is overtaken by a storm and wrecked on a coral reef around a nearby island. The captain and a few of the crew members are swept out to sea in a smaller boat, while most of the crew is drowned. The three young men band together to jump clear of the ship and swim to shore. Once ashore, they work together to establish a camp, provide for their needs using the available, abundant resources, and explore their new home. At one point, they even manage to construct a boat to explore other nearby islands as well. When a boat of natives that includes women and children is chased on shore by a second band of natives composed entirely of warriors, the boys risk their lives to come to their aid. Later, a group of pirates land on the island, and Ralph is taken away on their ship. Eventually, he escapes and returns to his friends after several of his own adventures, and they determine to attempt a daring rescue of a native woman, who has become a Christian, from her pagan cannibalistic captors.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it for ages 13 and up. It is filled with lots of action, ingenuity, and inspiring self-reliant spirit as well as sections of exquisitely detailed descriptions of the beauty of a South Pacific island. My one caution and the reason for my age recommendation is that the book is very upfront about the bloody and cannibalistic native culture that existed during that time. Ballantyne does a good job of relaying some of the more gruesome aspects of human sacrifice and cannibalism without being overly detailed and gory at these points. Definitely worth the time to read and since it's an older book is available online for free in ebook and Kindle formats.
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