Get Attacked by a shark? Easier than falling off a log.
. SHARKS HAVE BEEN GETTING A BAD RAP SINCE THE 1800s! (popular Stephen Weir Facebook posting) The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean is a super popular British boy's books that, while written over 150 years ago (1858), is still in print today. The novel written by Scottish author R. M. Ballantyne tells the story of how three boys marooned on a South Pacific island, are able to survive off the land, battle sharks, kill wild animals, overcome savage natives and make it back to civilization. This is the book that inspired William Golding's Lord of the Flies . It also inspired generations of fiction readers to keep out of the water for fear being eaten by Mr. Jaws. Ballantyne never traveled to the South Pacific and most likely never ever saw a Great White Shark, but, it didn't stop him from putting the fear of sharks into young fiction readers around the world. Pictured in an 1890 edition of the book (below), the three boys are fishing from a lo...