by Blake Hoena
Long John did not go empty-handed. A sack of gold is missing.
A part of you is glad that Long John escaped. While he may have been a ruthless pirate, he saved your life. And while you’ll never see him again, when you dream of the surf booming against the Hispaniola’s hull, you will recall a shrill voice screeching, “Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!”
Epilogue: Book Report
You’re standing in your little brother’s sandbox, holding the tattered, old book. You’re not sure what just happened. The treasure map. Long John Silver. The Hispaniola. Was it all a weird dream?
Whether it was your imagination or not, you know what you should do: work on that book report. (It will be fun to write about pirates!)
You head into the house and go to your room. Your dad is sitting on the bed. He holds your game controller in his hands.
“Mrs. Johnson called,” he says. “You haven’t turned in your book report.”
You look down at your feet, and you toe the carpet. Then you look back at your dad and confess. “It’s true, but I’m going to work on it now.” You hold up the book for your dad to see.
“So you like it?” your dad asks, sounding surprised.
“Well, there aren’t any zombies,” you say. “But it’s got pirates and a treasure map, so that’s pretty cool.”
“Good,” he says with a smile. “It was my favorite when I was your age.”
Your dad stands and heads for the doorway. Before he walks through it, he looks back at you. “You did break the rule,” he says. “So no video games until Monday.”
“Okay,” you reply.
He smiles warmly when you don’t protest. Then he walks away.
You sit at your desk and turn on your computer. You have so many ideas, and you want to share them. You can’t wait to get started.
Go to the next page.
Can You Survive These Titles?
Test your survival skills with a free short story at www.Lake7Creative.com and pick up these Choose Your Path books:
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Greek Mythology’s Adventures of Perseus
Greek Mythology’s Twelve Labors of Hercules
H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines
Howard Pyle’s Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Jack London’s Call of the Wild
Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island
Sir Arthur Doyle’s Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
About Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson was born on November 13, 1850, in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was a sickly child, but from an early age, he listened to countless stories. And he soon began telling stories of his own.
His father was an engineer who designed lighthouses in Scotland. He hoped Robert would follow in his footsteps. Yet he also encouraged his son’s creativity. He paid for the publication of Robert’s first book, The Pentland Rising: A Page of History 1666 (1866).
Robert’s early works were written for adults. But in the early 1880s, he had an idea for a children’s book, Treasure Island (1883). His adventure stories, which also include The Black Arrow (1883) and Kidnapped (1886), helped make him famous. His most well-known adult novel is The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886).
Unfortunately, the illnesses that Robert suffered as a child haunted him throughout his life. In 1894, he died at the age of 44.
About Treasure Island
In 1880, Robert Louis Stevenson sat watching his stepson, Lloyd Osbourne, paint. Robert joined in the fun and created a map. Together, Robert and Lloyd named all the different places on the map, such as Spyglass Hill and Skeleton Island. That map helped to inspire Robert to write Treasure Island. Robert even used the map as the basis for the treasure map in his book.
Up until then, Robert had mostly written essays, poems, and stories about his travels, and about society. Treasure Island was the story that made him popular. It was first printed a few pages at a time, in a children’s magazine called Young Folks, between 1881 and 1882. It later became his first full-length fiction novel, when it was published as a book in 1883.
Treasure Island has become a model for all pirate stories. It’s been adapted into movies, TV shows, comic books—and now a Choose Your Path book.
About the Author
Blake Hoena grew up writing stories about robots conquering the moon and trolls lumbering around in the woods behind his parents’ house—the fact that the trolls were hunting for little boys had nothing to do with Blake’s pesky brothers.
He pursued a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato, and since graduating, Blake has written more than sixty books for children. Blake has published ABC picture books, graphic novels about space aliens, and retellings of classic stories such as Greek Mythology’s Adventure of Perseus, another Choose Your Path book.
To learn more about Blake and his writing, visit his website at www.bahoena.com.