• This edition includes the following editor’s introduction: Robert Michael Ballantyne, the Scottish master of the adventure genre for young people

Originally published in 1858, “Martin Rattler” (AKA
Martin Rattler: Adventures of a Boy in the Forests of Brazil) is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Michael Ballantyne.
This masterpiece tells the story of
Martin Rattler, a mischievous young boy with a good heart. By mistake, he winds up on the ship
Firefly with his friend Barney O’Flannagan, headed to the South Seas. Escaping pirates and surviving a shipwreck, the two explore South America in one frolicking adventure after another.
A thoroughly delightful read following the young adventurers as they canoe down the Amazon, narrowly escape an alligator, eat an anaconda and turtle’s eggs, are captured by Indians, and then are separated. Martin escapes by jumping over a cliff and tries to make his way home. But what happened to his friend Barney O’Flannagan?