Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe has continued to delight and enthral readers of all ages for three hundred years. This edition has been adapted for children and is masterfully illustrated by Hans Christian Andersen Award-winning artist Robert Ingpen.


Young and impulsive, Robinson Crusoe defies the advice of his parents and runs away to sea. He is plagued by misfortune at every turn; his first ship sinks in a violent storm, his friend and mentor dies, then he is captured by Turkish pirates and made a slave in the Moorish port of Sallee. Through all these hardships, Crusoe’s determination and resourcefulness fills him with hope for a better life, and fate delivers him the opportunity for freedom, friendship and riches. But it is when he is shipwrecked on a deserted island that he faces his greatest test: not simply to survive but to thrive.

The island is filled with beauty and riches of its own kind and here Crusoe is king, but it is blighted by a terrible danger a hidden horror that threatens not only Crusoe’s encampment but his very life.

About the Author

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) was an English trader, writer and poet. His childhood was marked by some of the most important events in British history the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London and he grew up in a country that was hostile to his Presbyterian upbringing. He was a powerful and controversial figure, being a trusted adviser to the king, a rebel, a prisoner and a spy. He was also a successful writer with over 300 articles, poems or stories attributed to him. It was towards the end of his life that he wrote his great novels. The most famous of these is Robinson Crusoe, believed to have been inspired by the real-life shipwreck story of Alexander Selkirk who spent four years stranded on the island of Más a Tierra in 1704-09. In 1966 this island was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island.

About the Illustrator

Robert Ingpen was born in 1936 in Geelong, Australia. He studied illustration art and book design at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. In 1986 he was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his contribution to children’s literature and has been honoured with Membership of the Order of Australia. A world-renowned artist and author, he has designed, illustrated and written over 100 books. This series of classic works illustrated by Robert include Treasure Island, Peter Pan and Wendy, The Jungle Book, The Wind in the Willows and A Christmas Carol.

Robert lives and works in Anglesea, near his home town of Geelong.