Adrift in the Wilds; Or, The Adventures of Two Shipwrecked Boys

Ellis, Edward Sylvester, 1840-1916Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.9
Word count
348K words
Chapters
35

Tags

English Originals Children's Literature Nature's ChallengeAdventureBond of FriendshipShipwreckIsland SurvivalInspirationTest of CourageGrowing UpBoyhood AdventureYouth Reading

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Adrift in the Wilds; Or, The Adventures of Two Shipwrecked Boys by EllisAuthor: Ellis, Edward Sylvester, 1840-1916,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: May 27, 2007

Editor's review

This is a typical nineteenth-century adventure novel for young readers, from the prolific author Edward S. Ellis. The story follows two shipwrecked boys, with its appeal in twin threads of wilderness survival and youthful friendship: on one hand, survival details such as building shelter, finding food, and navigating; on the other, two children of different temperaments relying on each other and growing together in hardship. The language is direct, the chapters short, and the plot fast-moving, retaining the optimism and moral undertone characteristic of old-fashioned adventure stories; it is a good sample of early English-language juvenile literature. As a public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg, it is easy to obtain and free to read, especially suited to readers who want to use fragmented time for extensive reading in English. Read it not for complexity or novelty of plot but for the period's view of nature, its shaping of boyhood, and its handling of narrative pace, and you will see where such works stand in the history of young people's reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Move chapter by chapter; after each, retell the plot in two or three sentences, practicing both comprehension and English expression.
  2. Keep pen and paper to record nautical and wilderness-survival vocabulary, then organize it into a thematic word list.
  3. Read alongside modern survival novels on the same theme to observe how the writing of youthful adventure differs across eras.
  4. Use the electronic edition's search function to revisit key plot clues and trace how the relationship between the two protagonists changes.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35

FAQ

Is this book suitable for learning English? Fairly suitable. Chapters are short and the plot moves directly, with narrative language mainly action and dialogue; unfamiliar words cluster in nautical and wilderness scenes, making thematic vocabulary building easy. But it is a nineteenth-century work, with some old-fashioned sentence patterns and wording. It is best read after reaching a basic reading level; for long sentences, grasp the main structure first rather than checking every word.
Is the story based on real events? Available information does not confirm that it is based on specific real events. What is certain is that it is a juvenile adventure novel by Ellis, belonging to the common nineteenth-century castaway and shipwreck genre. Read it as genre fiction, appreciating narrative method and character portrayal, rather than as a documentary to be verified.
Do I need to read other books in the series first? No. The story stands relatively independent, centered on two boys' shipwreck and wilderness experience, with no clues requiring prior reading. Start from the beginning; if the author's other adventure novels interest you, look for them separately.

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About the author

Ellis, Edward Sylvester, 1840-1916 Author

Edward Sylvester Ellis (1840-1916) was an American author best known for adventure and historical works for young readers. Because public information about him is limited, biographical details remain difficult to establish with certainty, yet the library holds as many as 58 of his works, indicating that he was a prolific and long-active writer. His writing often centers on frontier settlement, mountain exploration, colonial warfare, and historical figures, as seen in The Great Cattle Trail, The Riflemen of the Miami, and The Cave in the Mountain; these works are tightly plotted and emphasize action and courage, making them well suited to younger readers. He also wrote character sketches such as Thomas Jefferson, a Character Sketch and reference works such as 1000 Mythological Characters Briefly Described, reflecting a broad interest in history, mythology, and popular knowledge.