Since Robinson Crusoe (1719), the desert island topos has been used as a vehicle for discussing ideas about society and nature. Moreover, because of its early adoption into the canon of children’s literature, it must also be considered a key text about childhood and the child. This is especially clear when it comes to adaptations for children (such as J. H. Campé’s 1779 version), or in the usually more child-oriented robinsonades. In such work we recognize the themes of Robinson Crusoe: isolation and survival in a strange environment, the building of a new society/civilization and the encounter with alien others. But the themes are adapted for the child audience, and undergo further modification over time as the view of the child changes.