Treasure Island: Runaway Gold

by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A modern Treasure Island adaptation bringing pirates to the big city, this is Black history like you haven't seen before. With skateboard stunts and high action, it has the hooks to snag reluctant readers and the depth to move them.

Bestselling and award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes reimagines the classic novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson in this thrilling adventure set in modern-day Manhattan, in which three children must navigate the city’s hidden history, dodge a threatening crew of skater kids, and decide who they can really trust in order to hunt down a long-buried treasure. 

Three kids. One dog. And the island of Manhattan, laid out in an old treasure map.

Zane is itching for an adventure that will take him away from his family’s boarding house in Rockaway, Queens. So when he is entrusted with a real treasure map, leading to a spot somewhere in Manhattan, Zane wastes no time in riding the ferry over to the city to start the search with his friends Kiko and Jack and his dog, Hip-Hop.

Through strange coincidence, they meet a man who is eager to help them find the treasure: John, a sailor who knows all about the buried history of Black New Yorkers of centuries past—and the gold that is hidden somewhere in those stories.

As a vicious rival skateboard crew follows them around the city, Zane and his friends begin to wonder who they can really trust. And soon it becomes clear that treasure hunting is a dangerous business…

Jewell Parker Rhodes has written a version of Treasure Island like none you’ve never seen—one that takes the reader through little-known Black history, and under the city of Manhattan itself. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062998361
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/15/2024
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	902,082
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 7.62(h) x (d)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

About the Author

Dr. Jewell Parker Rhodes is the author of six adult novels: Voodoo Dreams, Magic City, Douglass’ Women, Season, Moon, and Hurricane, as well as the memoir Porch Stories: A Grandmother’s Guide to Happiness and two writing guides, Free within Ourselves: Fiction Lessons for Black Authors and The African American Guide to Writing and Publishing Nonfiction. Jewell is also the author of seven books for youth, including the New York Times bestsellers Ghost Boys and Black Brother, Black Brother. She has won the American Book Award, the Black Caucus of the American Library Award for Literary Excellence, and the Jane Addams Peace Association Book Award. Jewell is the founding artistic director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing and narrative studies professor and Virginia G. Piper endowed chair at Arizona State University. She was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Carnegie-Mellon University. She lives in Seattle, Washington.

Editorial Reviews

"Whether or not readers are familiar with Robert Louis Stevenson’s original, they’ll be drawn into this accessible, action-packed adventure, full of mysteries, pirates, skateboard drama, and a whole new underground world. The artful, verse-like sentence structures intentionally and effectively evoke the “resonance and rhythm of the African American oral tradition. Daringly honors old heroes, stunningly integrating past and present with pitch-perfect success." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"In this contemporary spin on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Rhodes employs lush descriptive language and engaging dialogue teeming with historical facts, and crafts a sincere protagonist whose compassion for others radiates from the pages of this high-octane romp." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Narrator Miles Harvey establishes an energetic voice for skateboard enthusiast Zane, who sets off for Manhattan with two of his friends and his dog. They're in search of treasure, using a map and clues left behind by a boarder and friend after her passing. Zane hopes the money will ensure that he and his mom can remain in their family home. Harvey smoothly navigates between adding excitement to the narration as the crew moves from place to place and creating a more serious tone as they learn about the forgotten and sometimes dark history of the city. Listeners will cheer Zane on in this coming-of-age story as he learns about the importance of true friendship and trust. M.D. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2023 - AudioFile

09/11/2023

Following his father’s death, Black middle schooler Zane’s mother must take in several boarders—“all of them old, smelling of Vicks VapoRub and mothballs”—to afford their Queens home. But the bills still pile up despite the extra income, and Zane worries that he and his mother will be evicted. One of the boarders, elderly Captain Maddie, who claims she has a hidden treasure, urges Zane to protect her hoard before dying suddenly. In her room, Zane finds an old treasure map of Manhattan containing mysterious clues, and Zane—accompanied by his two best friends and his dog Hip-Hop—subsequently embarks on an epic treasure hunt. While attempting to evade a group of skateboarders intent on stealing the map and claiming the treasure for themselves, Zane and company encounter an enigmatic man named John who offers to help piece together the clues. As the mission grows more treacherous, Zane must determine whom to trust. In this contemporary spin on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Rhodes (Paradise on Fire) employs lush descriptive language and engaging dialogue teeming with historical facts, and crafts a sincere protagonist whose compassion for others radiates from the pages of this high-octane romp. Ages 10–up. Agent: Michael Bourret. Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2023-07-26
In this modern-day retelling of a classic centering a majority Black cast, a boy’s search for riches leads him to lesser-known parts of American history.

After his father’s untimely death, Zane’s mother takes in boarders to make ends meet. Zane has mixed feelings about one of them, the enigmatic “Captain Maddie of the Turbulent Underground Sea,” and her strange ramblings and warnings. But as her predictions materialize, their bond cements. What about her instructions to “sail on that board of yours. Find the treasure”—is there really treasure waiting to be found? Zane’s friends Kiko (who is Japanese and Black and from a prosperous home) and Jack (whose trucker father is an abusive alcoholic), plus Zane’s feisty pup, Hip-Hop, set off to explore Manhattan, with the kids on their skateboards. Guided by an old, riddle-filled map, they visit several sites of historical events with echoes of the past. But they’re not the only ones interested in treasure, and they don’t know whom they can trust. Whether or not readers are familiar with Robert Louis Stevenson’s original, they’ll be drawn into this accessible, action-packed adventure, full of mysteries, pirates, skateboard drama, and a whole new underground world. The artful, verse-like sentence structures intentionally and effectively evoke the “resonance and rhythm of the African American oral tradition.” Select scenes are represented with appealing full-page illustrations.

Daringly honors old heroes, stunningly integrating past and present with pitch-perfect success. (skateboarding trick glossary, historical note) (Adventure. 9-14)

Kirkus Reviews