I think maybe I would appreciate it more if I were more familiar with Robinson Crusoe (I keep meaning to read that!). But since my students are probably even less familiar with the famous adventure novel than I am, I suspect they, too, may find the story a bit flat. They would probably relate easily to the uneasy feelings the main character faces when he shows up at a costume party in a costume that gets him teased, and the desire to leave early that results. But when our hero does escape the party to go home to bed and ends up dreaming of a life of adventure on a deserted island, I’m not sure most of my students would get the connection. Though they would appreciate the ending in which his friends show up with apology notes, asking to hear more about the character he had dressed as.