Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Swallows and Amazons (original 1930; edition 2012)by Arthur Ransome (Author)
Work InformationSwallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (1930)
Elevenses (8) Favorite Series (45) » 39 more 501 Must-Read Books (184) BBC Big Read (135) Ambleside Books (109) Top Five Books of 2016 (133) Top Five Books of 2013 (1,032) Top Five Books of 2023 (359) Books Read in 2021 (1,510) CCE 1000 Good Books List (374) BBC Big Read (96) 1930s (208) Spirit of Place (9) Books About Boys (92) 4th Grade Books (174) Ambleside Y3 (24) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. The Walker children (John, Susan, Titty and Roger) are on school holiday in the Lake District and are sailing a borrowed catboat named "Swallow," when they meet the Blackett children (Nancy and Peggy), who sail the boat, "Amazon." The children camp together on Wild Cat Island where a plot is hatched against the Blackett's Uncle Jim who is too busy writing his memoirs to be disturbed. Fireworks--literally--ensue along with a dangerous contest, a run-in with houseboat burglars, and the theft of Uncle Jim's manuscript. How all this is resolved makes for an exciting and very satisfying story. The four Walker children are staying on a farm in the Lake District of England with their mother and baby sister for the summer while their sailor father is away. After staring at an island in the lake for several days, they get permission from their parents to take the sailboat, The Swallow, out and camp on it. The kids, who range in age from 8 to probably 12 or 14, plan what they will need, load the boat, and sail off. Mom rows over the first night to check on them, but then the kids are on their own. Every morning they row to the nearest farm, where their mother has arranged for them to get milk and other staples (and also allows her to keep a secondhand eye on them), and spend the rest of the day exploring, charting the "high seas", and fishing for sharks (i.e. perch). One day two pirates (Nancy and Peggy) appear in another sailboat, the Amazon, and request a parlay. They agree to a war and whoever succeeds in capturing the other's sailboat will get to be the flagship, and the captain a commodore. The race is on! I loved this book, with highly imaginative children allowed the responsibility and freedom of summer adventures free of adult hovering. They sail, swim, camp, fish, all the while problem-solving and working together. Although First Mate, Susan, does have to do all the cooking (apropos of the 30s), she is also a first-rate sailor, and Nancy and Peggy are incorrigible, getting into all sorts of scrapes (such as setting off a firecracker on the roof of their uncle's houseboat). If you like sailing or independent kids, I highly recommend this book. The adventure and jeopardy of the plot gives a rich oppurtunity for a well supplemented book, however I was thoroughly underwelmed. Scarce amounts story mixed in with a deluge of descriptive text left the book dry and almost unreadable. After, heaving myself to finish the small amounts of plot were somewhat enjoyable, thus the generous 2 and a half stars.
It taught me all I know about survival. It is easily imaginable that "Swallows and Amazons" attained its special quality of happiness in its author's mind when, as correspondent to the London Daily News and the Manchester Guardian, he was living through the tragedies of the Front or exploring the chaos of revolutionary Russia. For here is everything that the Front was not and that Russia is not - peace, innocence, family life at its loveliest, laughter and security. The story is plotted so slightly that the American boy, weaned on "westerns," may turn up his nose at such a low-pitched tale. It will be his loss. Four children go camping on an island in one of the English lakes. Two rival campers - girls, at that - appear, and joyfully agree on war. But Mr. Ransome has marshalled many aides. First, a reality of scene. As in Defoe, no detail is too insignificant to gloss over, yet the itemizing never grows wearisome, and a store of handy things to know about sailing is secreted in the pages. Second, a reality of characters. They are born alive and do not have to be described. "Swallows and Amazons" will gain by being read aloud. The child who hears will live gaily, whether on Wild Cat Island or in Octopus Lagoon, while the parent who reads will remember idyllic hours. For this book is both silvery present and golden retrospect. ... Belongs to SeriesBelongs to Publisher SeriesIs contained inContainsHas the adaptationInspiredHas as a reference guide/companionHas as a studyAwardsNotable Lists
Classic Literature.
Juvenile Fiction.
Juvenile Literature.
HTML: The classic English series begins with a tale of two families of children uniting against a common foe: an uncle who claims he's too busy for his nieces. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
Fireworks--literally--ensue along with a dangerous contest, a run-in with houseboat burglars, and the theft of Uncle Jim's manuscript. How all this is resolved makes for an exciting and very satisfying story.