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Swallows and Amazons (1930)

by Arthur Ransome

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Swallows and Amazons (chronological order) (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
3,848833,165 (4.14)343
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.
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 Blacketts' Uncle Jim who is too busy writing his memoirs to be disturbed.
Fireworksâ??literallyâ??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. Uncle Jim ends up apologizing for missing his nieces' adventures all summerâ??thankfully, readers won't miss a thing.
Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series has stood the test of time. More than just great stories, each one celebrates independence and initiative with a colorful, large cast of characters. Like the entire series that follows, this book is for children or grownups, anyone captivated by a world of adventure and imagination, exploring and setting sail.
The basis for the 2016 film starring Kelly MacDonald, Andrew Scott, and Rafe Spall.
"Clean and lively prose, with an earnest whimsy . . . The 12 books in the series are justly ranked as classics, standing with the children's stories of Kipling, Barrie, and Grahame." â??The Telegraph (UK)
"For those who regret the hemming-in of childhood, the Swallows and Amazons are free-range children to gladden the heart." â??The Wall Street J
… (more)

  1. 40
    The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (rakerman)
    rakerman: Both Swallows and Amazons and The Wind in the Willows are classic stories for children that involve boating and adventures.
  2. 40
    Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome (rakerman)
    rakerman: If you enjoyed Swallows and Amazons, you should enjoy Swallowdale, as it is a direct sequel with the same characters, set one year later.
  3. 41
    The Far Distant Oxus by Katharine Hull (Aquila)
    Aquila: Written by two school girls, and recommended for publishing by Arthur Ransome, holidays with ponies and rafts, a lovely read.
  4. 20
    Cargo of Horses by Monica Edwards (Aquila)
  5. 21
    The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton (LucyClements)
  6. 21
    Two Little Savages by Ernest Thompson Seton (thesmellofbooks)
    thesmellofbooks: Both books have a benign sense of human nature and a love of the outdoors. Both teach lots of interesting things about what the kids are doing as well as entertain. S&A teaches sailing craft, for the most part, and TLS teaches woodcraft. (Don't be put off by the "savages". The book is respectful; the language is dated.)… (more)
  7. 10
    The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit (HollyMS)
  8. 00
    The Wouldbegoods: Being the Further Adventures of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit (HollyMS)
  9. 00
    The Lion's Paw by Robb White (Cecrow)
  10. 00
    Ransome revisited by Elisabeth Mace (Cecrow)
    Cecrow: In Mace's story, the characters refer to S&A for survival advice.
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» See also 343 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 83 (next | show all)
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.
  PlumfieldCH | Dec 28, 2023 |
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.
  PlumfieldCH | Sep 23, 2023 |
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. ( )
  labfs39 | Apr 29, 2023 |
A nice little adventure, but as I know nothing about sailing a lot of the references were completely lost on me. I think I might have enjoyed it more if I had read this as a kid rather than coming to it for the first time as an adult. ( )
  LouieAndTheLizard | Feb 6, 2023 |
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. ( )
  RIPpogle | Dec 7, 2021 |
Showing 1-5 of 83 (next | show all)
It taught me all I know about survival.
added by Cynfelyn | editThe Guardian, Jon Snow (Nov 19, 1999)
 
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. ...
 

» Add other authors (5 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Ransome, Arthurprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Armstrong, GarethNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Štěpánek, B.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
ÄŚernĂ˝, JanIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Baloghy, MáriaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Blackett, NancyIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Burian, ZdeněkIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Carter, HeleneIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gil, FabioTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Guillemot, G.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Henke, Jancover bysecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jennings, AlexNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lhoták, KamilIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Li, Hsing ChinTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mathiesen, Axelcover bysecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Omer, DevorahTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Palosuo, MainiTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rotgans, H.Illustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
SalaÄŤ, AntonĂ­n LudvĂ­kIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sørensen, KaiTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Spurrier, StephenMaps drawn bysecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ster, Jacobus van derTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Webb, CilffordIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Winther, Eugenie GeelmuydenTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wolfová, ZoraTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
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Epigraph
"Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes,
He stared at the Pacific -- and all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise --
Silent, upon a peak in Darien."

Chapter I - The peak in Darien.
"What care I for a goose-feather bed,
With the sheet turned down so bravely, O?
For to-night I shall sleep in the cold open field
Along with the wraggle-taggle gipsies, O!"

Chapter II - Making ready.
"There were three sailors of Bristol City
Who took a boat and went to sea;
But first with beef and captain's biscuits
And pickled pork they loaded she"
THACKERAY

Chapter III - The voyage to the island.
"Then, having washed the blood away, we'd little else to do
Than to dance a quiet hornpipe as the old salts taught us to."
MASEFIELD

Chapter XXVII - The battle in Houseboat Bay.
Dedication
For the six for whom it was written, in exchange for a pair of slippers.
First words
I have often been asked how I came to write Swallows and Amazons.

Author's note, 19 May 1958 (some post-1958 editions).
Roger, aged seven, and no longer the youngest of the family, ran in wide zigzags, to and fro, across the steep field that sloped up from the lake to Holly Howe, the farm where they were staying for part of the summer holidays.
Quotations
BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
This record is for the original work, Swallows and Amazons (Jonathan Cape, 1930), and still in print. Also translations and unabridged audiobooks. Please do not combine with extracts, or with The Swallows and the Amazons (Amazon Publications, 1997), a limited edition annotated transcript of an early draft of S&A.
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

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.
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 Blacketts' Uncle Jim who is too busy writing his memoirs to be disturbed.
Fireworksâ??literallyâ??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. Uncle Jim ends up apologizing for missing his nieces' adventures all summerâ??thankfully, readers won't miss a thing.
Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series has stood the test of time. More than just great stories, each one celebrates independence and initiative with a colorful, large cast of characters. Like the entire series that follows, this book is for children or grownups, anyone captivated by a world of adventure and imagination, exploring and setting sail.
The basis for the 2016 film starring Kelly MacDonald, Andrew Scott, and Rafe Spall.
"Clean and lively prose, with an earnest whimsy . . . The 12 books in the series are justly ranked as classics, standing with the children's stories of Kipling, Barrie, and Grahame." â??The Telegraph (UK)
"For those who regret the hemming-in of childhood, the Swallows and Amazons are free-range children to gladden the heart." â??The Wall Street J

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