Swiss Family Robinson

My daughter's fourth grade teacher read her an abridged version of this book and that, along with the old Disney movie adaptation, made her pick this book up at the library the first chance she got. She loved it, I'm so glad that at 10 she's willing to try reading classic books. When she finished, I snagged it for my own "To Read" pile and was able to finish it off this week. It's the story of a family, I'm assuming their last name is Robinson, but I don't think that it ever really said. They are moving from Switzerland to New Holland, but on the way their boat is shipwrecked in a storm. There's a dad, a mom, and 4 sons (not like the movie, in which there are only 3 sons.) Anyway, they are deserted by the crew and left on the ship to fend for themselves. As soon as they can devise a way to get off the ship they do. They find themselves on an uninhabited island, which they eventually explore and are able to fill all of their basic needs for things like food, water and clothing all by themselves. They also have to protect themselves from all kinds of wild animals that already inhabit the island. The only thing they really miss in their years on the island ends up being the interaction of others. I really enjoyed this book. I ended up spending only about 2 or 3 hours to read all 545 pages of this one. I love it when that happens. Sometimes in classic books you get so bogged down by all the old language, which really didn't happen with this book. Definitely worth reading!