Rating: 
Summary: Don't let the kids have all the fun
Review: I was surprised to see some reviewers didn't like this wonderful book. If you have trouble with the Scottish accent, read it out loud, use your imagination, and if you still can't figure it out, skip a bit. (Do you insist on understanding every single word spoken in a movie?) This is the story of a young man overcoming adversity to gain maturity and his birthright. It moves right along, in Stevenson's beautiful prose. Read, for example, this sentence from Chapter 12: "In those days, so close on the back of the great rebellion, it was needful a man should know what he was doing when he went upon the heather." Read it out loud; it rolls along, carrying the reader back to Scotland, even a reader like me, who doesn't know all that much about Scottish history. Kidnapped is by no means inferior, and in many ways superior to the more famous Treasure Island. Only two points I would like to bring up: I bought the Penguin Popular Classics issue, and have sort of mixed feelings. Maybe some day I'll get the version illustrated by Wyeth. I'm not sure whether this book needs illustrations, though. Stevenson's vivid writing is full of pictures. In Chapter 4, David makes a point of saying that he found a book given by his father to his uncle on Ebenezer's fifth birthday. So? Is this supposed to show how much Ebenezer aged due to his wickedness? If anybody could explain this to me, please do.
Rating: 
Summary: For advanced readers only
Review: This book was written sometime ago. The dialogue and words are of very old English, and it is easy to find yourself lost. This book has an good story, but it is only easly understood by someone alive in the 1700's. So before you buy this book, ask yourself if your up the the challenge.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I missed this one as a kid, which is too bad, because I think I would have appreciated it then as well. Set following the failed Scottish rebellion, 'Kidnapped' tells the story of young David Balfour, whose greedy uncle tries to cheat him out of his inheritance by having him kidnapped and sold in the American colonies as a slave. On the way, however, he befriends a Jacobite rebel and is instead caught up in the Scottish troubles and has to fight his way back to his home and claim his inheritance. The adventure is all the more exciting because it feels like such a real world with all the careful place-related detail Stevenson employs. While the language can be difficult in places, that quickly fades once you get into the rhythm of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible
Review: Kidnapped by RL Stevenson was the worst book I have ever read. I was lost the entire time. The author did not make clear the setting,the plot or anything else in this book. I have never had trouble understanding olde English language but I could not read this book because of it. I have yet to see a book that I did not enjoy besides this one. A classic? Dont think so.....
Rating: 
Summary: Kidnapped-O.K. book
Review: Kidnapped was a o.k. book. I like when he is traveling on the ship and then he gets away from the pirates. I did because I do not think it is right for the kid to get hurt. I did not like when they accused the kid of murder, when he did not do it. I did not because the kid should not get accused for something he did not do. I t would of been beter if they would not kidnapped a kid. They also should not blame the kid for murder when he did not do it. I think you should read this book because it is a O.K. book. I also like how the author puts good words in the book. He dose a very good job of that. He is one of my favorite authors. the book has alot of hard words in it but most of the time you can sound the words out if you try hard anofe.
Rating:
Summary: A cumbersome read
Review: Kidnapped was impossible to get through because of its cumbersome language and confusing details. It is one of the worst novels I have ever picked up and I unfortunately have a few students in my English class reading it as a bonus. Good luck! I don't think they'll make it through this one.
Rating:
Summary: hmm.....
Review: I have a few words for this book. Confusing dailaouge, hmm..., hmm... I really liked the movie bettter but who doesn't like movies better than books. I think another reason I didn't like this book is becuase I had to read it while I was sick over thanksgiving, along with reading Bram Stoker's Dracula and H.G. Wells' the isle of dr. maeru,(or something like that) but I guess it's ok if you think about it I just dont really like it
Rating: 
Summary: Quite rightly a classic
Review: With not one but two believable, strong protagonists, a fast moving plot, sufficient excitement and suspense to carry your attention along, and a smattering of historical accuracy, this is a book which demands you willingly suspend your disbelief of the opening sequence (the only weak point to the book), and be carried along to the satisfying conclusion. Alan Breck Stewart is one of literature's great heroes: Not entirely likeable, nor completely honest, he is true to a fault, loyal, faithful, knowledgeable, and a great bag-piper to boot!
Rating:
Summary: it was alright, but.....................
Review: I have read this book and watched the Disney movie, and have to say, that the movie is way more thrilling than the book would ever be. The dialogue is very confusing and not clear. (at least in my version) But to be fair, the movie was very interesting and the actor wasn't too bad...lol I say, see the movie and or read the book and judge for yourselves. :o)
Rating:
Summary: Original-text edition reveals original intent, adult work.
Review: Robert Louis Stevenson, one of the most unjustly undervalued authors (by adult readers, at least) in English literature, created in "Kidnapped" a fast-paced adventure tale; a subtle examination of Scottish history and culture; and a pair of unforgettable characters--the sensible young Lowland protagonist, David Balfour, and his "wild Hielandman" mentor, Alan Breck Stewart. Stevensonian scholar Barry Menikoff offers a challenging new approach to the old favorite in this handsome edition transcribed from the original manuscript in the Huntington Library (and, for the final chapters, from the 1886 serialized version). The result is a text that is closer to the author's original intention than any edition yet published. In his illuminating introduction, itself a model of critical clarity and stylistic grace, Menikoff emphasizes both the mythic appeal of Stevenson's story of David Balfour's odyssey and what he terms the "starkness of its realism." The editor's analysis of Stevenson's economical employment of description as the agent of atmosphere and emotion places the author in the vanguard of a revolution in prose technique that would culminate in Hemingway. Menikoff makes a strong case for reexamining the so-called "children's classic" in the light in which it was received by early readers and critics (including Stevenson's friend and literary champion Henry James)--as a mature work of serious fiction. Put aside the images derived from Wyeth, Disney, and Classics Illustrated; here is the book--and the writer--you only thought you knew.
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