Arthur RansomeSwallows and Amazons

I was hurt and deeply angered when I read another reviewers comment about the book being unsuitable for children because it had "racism and animal abuse". Unbelievable!! First of all, the whole story is about girls and boys working together, at a time when girls didn't do things such as playing around in boats and fighting pretend pirates. And as for the "animal abuse",that is ridiculous. The book is very well written, and I soon realized when I started it that it was not the dry, dull book I had expected it to be! Every adventurous child and adult that enjoys a good laugh and some thankfully short-lived sorrows should definitely read Swallows and Amazons!!

Pretty much every installment of Arthur Ransome's outstanding series is well worth reading. His laidback, first-hand, expert-storytelling writing style and his wonderful characters make these books just as enjoyable (perhaps even more enjoyable) for adults, as well as kids. I would recommend that you read them in order. If you enjoy this series, I would also recommend Enid Blyton's classics, such as her "Adventure" series or her "Mystery" series. A newer book, Summer of Coins, (first of "A Ginger and Jack Mystery series), also has a similar vibe. Highly recommend Swallows and Amazons!

I wish I could be a Swallow or an Amazon. It was great fun to read about the adventures these kids came up with and their idyllic lifestyle. This is also an interesting (if fictional) view of hands-off parenting: the mother gladly sends her children on their independent adventure to an island with just a few guidelines about touching base infrequently.This book's greatest strength and weakness is that it lacked serious conflict and did not suck me in. I was able to put the book down...and I found that pleasant for a change, since I normally gulp in one sitting. I read some, put it down for a few days, went back and read some more. I wish that today's literature had not built up a desire in me and in so many others to have serious, high conflict. I'm glad the kids were never in grave danger or trying to save the world. They had adventures, but I was never terrified for their lives and just enjoyed their good-natured battles and explorations.

Children: Hey mom, there's an island. Can we go camp on it? Mom: I'll write to Dad.Letter back: As long as they're not duffers.Thus begins Swallows and Amazons. We get to join in their great expedition and adventures - exploring, battles, pirates, natives, treasure, and wonderful allies. Where oh where are wonderful days like that? Maybe I shouldn't be surprised at how sad I was for the adventure to be over. “Take back your Black Spot, then,” said Captain Flint. “You keep it,” said Nancy, “to remind you never to turn native again.”

While "Swallows and Amazons" was written in the 1930s that doesn't mean there isn't a lot here, especially for children who love the thought of adventure without their parents. Parents will appreciate the metaphors and poetry of the book; young readers will love the idyllic adventure on a lake island in the last warm days of summer holidays in the North of England. (This was the first long book I read as a child. One of the unintended consequences of this was that it gave me confidence to tackle other longer, more complex books.)

Child rearing seems to have been very different at the beginning of the previous century where young children are allowed to sail to rocky island alone and spend the days camping relatively unsupervised.Although children today are generally not permitted to do this (probably be arrested for child endangerment), children can still read this book and dream about how it was or it could be.Briefly the story is about two groups of children, a group of four siblings - the Swallows, and the other, two sisters - the Amazons, who are enamored with sailing and of being outdoors and live a rich fantasy revolving around these two desires.The two groups are at first in conflict over who controls the island, but after a challenge settles the issue join forces to thwart skullduggery that casts unfair blame on the Swallows.The book might be a bit slow in the beginning for younger readers, but once the two groups meet, it takes off and is exciting in a very innocent way. These are children being children, not children trying to young adults, making it very different from much contemporary fiction aimed at tweens/young teenagers.

I purchased for someone who is new to sailing. I was surprised this was such a popular book. I learned about it from a friend. It's not easy to start and old-fashioned in its style. The sailing descriptions are riveting once one gets in to the story.

Swallows and Amazons is a children's classic adventure first published in 1930. The 2012 publication contains the original text and illustrations with a somewhat tacky cover. The story is a great concept of childhood adventure, buccaneering in the Lake District. It is a terrific call to the imagination and exploration of and outward-bounding childhood. The actual writing itself though is far too detailed and needs a raft of complex nautical terminology to be explained. Swallows and Amazons is a classic because it captures the spirit of halcyon childhood but Arthur Ransome's writing is clearly of an earlier era.The story tells of the crew of the Swallow, 4 children visiting the Lake District on a summer holiday. In front of them lies a lake to explore and enjoy. The children's father is overseas on a naval trip so the family have boating in their blood. The 4 draw on their knowledge of exciting places far away to name the locations, adding more glamour to their spots on the lake. These places are generally pretty well-known with perhaps the exception being the Peak of Darien which is unlikely to be known by a modern young reader or listener.Darien is far from the only challenging description in the book. There are so many nautical terms which are all used correctly but which just are not part of common parlance any more. Ransome writes for a readership perhaps more suited to tales of adventure on the high seas where young people might have aspired to glorious sailing expeditions. Nowadays that is a pretty niche area and so nearly 90 years after original publication, the gap between the narrator and the reader has grown tremendously.Indeed there is a sense that the world of Swallows and Amazons has disappeared somewhat in the intervening period. The prospect of young children being allowed to camp out by themselves on a small island in the middle of a lake harks to a golden era of childhood that few now living will have been part of. Perhaps in a way this is the glory of the tale in that it describes what childhood should be like more than what it actually represents.The adventures the children have are nicely couched. They are not too scary for a young audience but carry some excitement. The side expedition into a gypsy camp is fascinating and the battle with Captain Flint is wonderful to read as is the exciting way Titty takes on the Amazon.The Amazons are a surprisingly modern rendition of girls. The two girls who crew the Amazon are just as brave and adventurous as any of the boys in the story, perhaps even more so. The Amazons are a fun foil for the Swallows in that they have similar aspirations and worldviews but have the added advantage of knowing the area much better.The relationship between the children is heavily hierarchical in that the younger ones follow the orders of the older ones. The gender roles are interesting though because the most assertive characters are probably the Swallows and Titty rather than the boys. Indeed the only characters who are treated as less capable are the baby who does not join the adventure and the youngest boy Roger.The distinction the characters make between "natives" and the shipmates is excellent even if it has colonial overtones. In a childhood adventure, those who are not part of the group are most definitely the other and that extends to members of the crew's family and friends.While it is definitely a classic and a great yarn filled with childhood adventure, the writing of Swallows and Amazons is pretty tough going. The actions are detailed intricately. This slows the pace down greatly and means not much happens for long periods of time. Ransome labours heavily through the work with far too many words explaining what are often pretty throwaway things. There are benefits to this approach in teaching some of the theory behind the way things work but that is not the same as being exciting and is not really how children learn best most of the time.Equally the book is not especially attractive. The cover of the 2012 edition is pretty ugly. The interior sketches are at best skeletal and worst terrible.Overall, Swallows and Amazons is a dense book that over-describes its detail but at heart holds within it the glory of what childhood is supposed to be. There is a good reason this is considered a classic and it is the kind of gentle adventure a young reader or audience can enjoy without trouble. At over 500 pages of pretty dense text though it is a heavy read and at times not the easiest to get through.

Okay, I’ll confess right away. I’m 65 and catching up on books that I should have read many years ago but never did. I agree with other reviewers who said that the sailing terminology was a little bewildering and that modern day children would be taken into the care of Social Services if parents allowed them to behave in such a way. However, what a feast for the imagination! It takes me back to my days of make believe and I love the way the children assumed their roles as explorers and pirates. The descriptions of the lake and it’s beautiful surroundings made me feel like I was there and, when the children were leaving the island , their emotional attachment was palpable and reminded me of the end of blissful summer holidays. It is a lovely story from a time of innocence and reading it transported me away from modern day mayhem to a simpler place and time. For that reason alone I would recommend it to adults and I would like to think modern day children would embrace the spirit of adventure.

We bought this for our 7 year son for Christmas as he had seen the film on TV just before. The book did not disappoint - it's a classic. Very well written, with incredible detail about the characters, the boats and the terrain. Our son loved it. Recommended.

Having recently dabbled in nostalgia and re-read Arthur Ransome’s ‘Winter Holiday’ and ‘Pigeon Post’ I suppose it was almost inevitable that I would find myself embarking on ‘Swallows and Amazons’ for the first time in some forty years. And why not! From the opening scene, with Roger ‘tacking’ up the field to check with his mother whether he would be allowed to join the rest of the Walker children camping on Wild Cat Island, through to the close, and the imminent return to the real world of school and city life, the book is totally delightful.Of course, life is very different now from when Arthur Ransome wrote this classic story, and Mrs Walker would find herself castigated, and probably even prosecuted, for neglect if she were to allow her four children, aged presumably between seven and eleven, to going camping and sailing, wholly unaccompanied; the children themselves would probably be taken into care. The only vague concession to health and safety is Mrs Walker’s ruling that Roger is not allowed to carry or use matches. The book was first published in 1930, and was probably already eulogising a Corinthian past largely of Ransome’s own imagining.Ransome’s own imagining is pretty powerful though. He succeeds in creating six child characters, all of whom have clearly contrasting personalities, and he captures their perspective of the world with great clarity. He also pulls off the harder trick of writing adults who meld into the children’s world seamlessly. At the risk of sinking into technicality, he is also a master of metafiction. The children themselves all have marvellous imaginations, recasting the Cumbrian lake into a new world waiting to be explored, reassigning all the local features with names drawn from maritime history. Perhaps he overendows the children in this way – given their ages, it seems amazing that they have heard of half the places or books that they talk about so readily. This, however, could not matter less, and it merely adds to the reader’s sense of complete immersion in the fantasy world that Ransome has created.Most importantly, though, it is simply a rattling good story that resonates with the joy of unfettered imagination

This is the first time I have read Swallows and Amazons, aged 60. What a joy. I am now onto the second volume, Swallowdale, which is equally wonderful: perhaps more so for me as I am not a sailor. I greatly look forward to the next few weeks of joy and innocence as I read all 12 volumes. And hope that one day I might read it to grandchildren. These books are beautifully written. I love the way each of the children's thoughts are described, especially their perceptions about the various grownups' behaviour. Arthur Ransome must have had some idyllic moments as a child in the Lake District. It also inspired me to find out more about him: what a fascinating life he led. But mostly, it is so refreshing, as one other reviewer has noted, to read a book that is not filled with unnecessary aggression, perversion and violence. The children are brave, thoughtful, and largely stick to well entrenched rules to ensure their safety, having adventures and doing things that few children these days would be free to do. This is a lovely book for all ages.