Five on a Treasure Island
First edition
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| Author | Enid Blyton |
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| Illustrator | Eileen A. Soper |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Famous Five series |
| Genre | Mystery, Adventure novel |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
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Publication date
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11 September 1942 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Followed by | Five Go Adventuring Again (1943) |
Five on a Treasure Island (published in 1942) is a popular children's book by Enid Blyton. It is the first book in The Famous Five series. The first edition of the book was illustrated by Eileen Soper.
It has been suggested that the book was influenced by L. T. Meade's 1892 book Four on an Island, which also recounts a story of four related children including a tomboy along with a dog living on an island with a shipwreck.
When siblings Julian, Dick and Anne learn that they cannot go for their usual summer holiday to Polseath, they are invited to spend the summer with their Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin at their home Kirrin Cottage, in the coastal village of Kirrin. They also meet their cousin Georgina, a surly, difficult girl, who tries hard to live like a boy and only answers to the name George. Despite an uncomfortable start, the cousins become firm friends and George even introduces them to her beloved dog Timothy (Timmy), who secretly lives with a fisher boy in the village after George realises that her parents will not allow her to keep Timmy.
George agrees to take her cousins to the nearby Kirrin Island, which belongs to her mother's family. On their way to the island, she shows them a shipwreck, which George explains was her great-great-great grandfather's ship. He had been transporting gold when the ship was wrecked in a storm, but despite divers investigating the wreck, the gold was never found. After visiting the wreck, the five arrive on Kirrin Island and are exploring the ruined castle when a huge storm blows up, making it too dangerous for them to return to the mainland. Deciding to take shelter on the island, they witness the sea throwing up the old shipwreck, grounding it on the rocks surrounding the island. Excited by these developments, they decide to come back at dawn the next day to investigate the wreck before it is discovered.
The next day, the five visit the wreck and discover the captain's cabin, where they find some objects belonging to George's great-great-great grandfather, including an old box which they take back to Kirrin Cottage, hoping to find out what's inside. The box proves difficult to open however, so they decide to throw it from the highest window of the house. The box is broken open, but the noise disturbs Uncle Quentin who confiscates it. Not willing to give up their quest, Julian sneaks into Uncle Quentin's study and takes the box, which contains an old map of Kirrin Castle. The children realise that it is a treasure map showing the location of the Kirrin's lost gold, so after taking a tracing of the map and returning the box, they make plans to find the gold themselves.
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Wikipedia