Treasure Island
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LITCRAFT TREASURE ISLAN D BOOK 1 - EXTRACTS TREASURE ISLAND SUMMARY OF RESOURCES COPY OF MAP EXTRACTS FOR USE: IN SCHOOLS (Comprehension) IN LIBRARIES (Pre-reAding TAsk) 1 SUMMARY OF TREASURE ISLAND Jim Hawkins is a 13 year-old boy who lives with his mother very quietly in Devon at an Inn called The Admiral Benbow. An old pirate called Billy Bones comes to rent a room at the inn. He is being hunted down by his old pirate shipmates who give him “the black spot” which causes him to have a heart attack and die. Jim and his mother take their owed rent from Billy Bones’ chest and also by accident pick up a treasure map (which is what the pirates were searching for). Jim takes the map to the local squire Trelawney and with him and Doctor Livesey sets oFF in search oF the treasure. They hire a ship (The Hispaniola) with a good captain (Captain Smollett) but the pirates (including Long John Silver) inFiltrate the crew pretending to be good sailors. During the voyage Jim overhears the pirates talking when he is hidden in an apple barrel and realises they are all in danger. When they arrive at the island the pirates are allowed ashore and Jim hides in the boat then jumps oFF and runs Freely around. He hears Silver killing some oF the good sailors and also meets the wild man marooned on the island, Ben Gunn. There are various Fights between the Captain, Doctor and others in the stockade on the island and the pirates. Meanwhile Jim Finds Ben Gunn’s little boat (coracle) and uses it to steer to the ship and take control oF it. He manages to sail it into a cove. When he returns to the stockade the pirates have taken it over and he is captured. The pirates and Long John Silver now have the map and set ofF to Find the treasure. But when they get there they Find it is already dug up (Ben Gunn has Found and moved it). The pirates turn against Silver and Jim who are rescued by the others. They find the treasure stored in a cave and transfer it to the Hispaniola. Silver, pretending to be good again, is taken oFF the island with them and escapes on the way home. The others return to England rich men. 2 CHAPTERS to which EXTRACTS Correspond + RelAted In-Game TAsks PART ONE—The Old Buccaneer 1. The Old Sea-dog at the “Admiral Benbow” 2. Black Dog Appears and Disappears 3. The Black Spot 4. The Sea-chest 5. The Last of the Blind Man 6. The Captain's Papers PART TWO—The Sea-cook 7. I Go to Bristol 8. At the Sign of the Spy-glass 9. Powder and Arms 10. The Voyage 11. What I Heard in the Apple Barrel 12. Council of War PART THREE—My Shore Adventure 13. How My Shore Adventure Began EXTRACT GIVEN Task: Scavenger Hunt/ 14. The First Blow Compass Challenge 15. The Man of the Island EXTRACT GIVEN Task: Ben Gunn survival task PART FOUR—The Stockade 16. Narrative Continued by the Doctor: How the Ship Was Abandoned 17. Narrative Continued by the Doctor: The Jolly-boat's Last Trip 18. Narrative Continued by the Doctor: End of the First Day's Fighting 19. Narrative Resumed by Jim Hawkins: The Garrison in the Stockade 20. Silver's Embassy 21. The Attack PART FIVE—My Sea Adventure 22. How My Sea Adventure Began 23. The Ebb-tide Runs 24. The Cruise of the Coracle EXTRACT GIVEN Task: Circling the island 25. I Strike the Jolly Roger 26. Israel Hands 27. “Pieces of Eight” PART SIX—Captain Silver 28. In the Enemy's Camp 29. The Black Spot Again 30. On Parole 31. The Treasure-hunt—Flint's Pointer EXTRACT GIVEN Task: Treasure hunt 32. The Treasure-hunt—The Voice Among the Trees 33. The Fall of a Chieftain 34. And Last 3 4 SHORT PASSAGES FOR COMPREHENSION WORK OR DISCUSSION LIBRARIANS: Use the short passages as the shortest possible wAy into the text as needed; OR use questions to stimulAte discussion aheAd of the in- game tAsk And A fuller reAding of the FULL EXTRACT (given below). 1. MY SHORE ADVENTURE We brought up just where the anchor was in the chart, about a third oF a mile From each shore, the mainland on one side and Skeleton Island on the other. The bottom was clean sand. The plunge oF our anchor sent up clouds oF birds wheeling and crying over the woods, but in less than a minute they were down again and all was once more silent. The place was entirely land-locked, buried in woods, the trees coming right down to high- water mark, the shores mostly Flat, and the hilltops standing round at a distance in a sort of amphitheatre, one here, one there. Two little rivers, or rather two swamps, emptied out into this pond, as you might call it; and the Foliage round that part of the shore had a kind oF poisonous brightness. From the ship we could see nothing oF the house or stockade, for they were quite buried among trees; and iF it had not been For the chart on the companion, we might have been the First that had ever anchored there since the island arose out oF the seas. Then it was that there came into my head the First of the mad notions that contributed so much to save our lives. If six men were leFt by Silver, it was plain our party could not take and Fight the ship; and since only six were leFt, it was equally plain that the cabin party had no present need of my assistance. It occurred to me at once to go ashore. In a jiffy I had slipped over the side and curled up in the fore-sheets oF the nearest boat, and almost at the same moment she shoved oFF. No one took notice oF me, only the bow oar saying, "Is that you, Jim? Keep your head down." But Silver, from the other boat, looked sharply over and called out to know iF that were me; and From that moment I began to regret what I had done. • Using the map can you work out where the ship must be anchored From Jim’s description? • Can you also Find on the map the rivers, the stockade and the hills? • Why does Jim say, “I began to regret what I had done”? What has Jim done? What does it mean to “regret”? What do you think Jim is regretting? Have you ever done anything that you regret? 5 2. The MAn of the IslAnd FROM the side oF the hill, which was here steep and stony, a spout oF gravel was dislodged and Fell rattling and bounding through the trees. My eyes turned instinctively in that direction, and I saw a figure leap with great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine. What it was, whether bear or man or monkey, I could in no wise tell. It seemed dark and shaggy; more I knew not. But the terror oF this new apparition brought me to a stand. He was concealed by this time behind another tree trunk; but he must have been watching me closely, for as soon as I began to move in his direction he reappeared and took a step to meet me. Then he hesitated, drew back, came Forward again, and at last, to my wonder and conFusion, threw himselF on his knees and held out his clasped hands in supplication. At that I once more stopped. "Who are you?" I asked. "Ben Gunn," he answered, and his voice sounded hoarse and awkward, like a rusty lock. "I'm poor Ben Gunn, I am; and I haven't spoke with a Christian these three years." I could now see that he was a white man like myselF and that his Features were even pleasing. His skin, wherever it was exposed, was burnt by the sun; even his lips were black, and his Fair eyes looked quite startling in so dark a Face. OF all the beggar-men that I had seen or Fancied, he was the chief for raggedness. He was clothed with tatters of old ship's canvas and old sea-cloth, and this extraordinary patchwork was all held together by a system oF the most various and incongruous Fastenings, brass buttons, bits oF stick, and loops of tarry gaskin. About his waist he wore an old brass-buckled leather belt, which was the one thing solid in his whole accoutrement. "Three years!" I cried. "Were you shipwrecked?" "Nay, mate," said he; "marooned." I had heard the word, and I knew it stood For a horrible kind oF punishment common enough among the buccaneers, in which the oFFender is put ashore with a little powder and shot and leFt behind on some desolate and distant island. • Why is Jim so aFraid at First? How does Ben Gunn show that he is not a threat? • Why does Ben Gunn look and dress so oddly? • What is the diFFerence between being “shipwrecked” and “marooned”? 6 3. The CorAcle I began aFter a little to grow very bold and sat up to try my skill at paddling. But even a small change in the disposition oF the weight will produce violent changes in the behaviour oF a coracle. And I had hardly moved beFore the boat, giving up at once her gentle dancing movement, ran straight down a slope oF water so steep that it made me giddy, and struck her nose, with a spout of spray, deep into the side of the next wave.