logo
Wrong email address or username
Wrong email address or username
Incorrect verification code

Swallows and Amazons - Community Reviews back

by Arthur Ransome
sort by language
MostlyDelores
MostlyDelores rated it 12 years ago
I grew up reading Enid Blyton -- The Famous Five, The (whatever) of Adventure, lashings of boarding school stories (see what I did there?) -- I loved the hearty, rosy-cheeked English children with their pluck and their tinned pineapple and potted meat sandwiches (I was mostly too young to catch all ...
Andrea K Höst
Andrea K Höst rated it 13 years ago
BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERSIF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN.Thus permission is given for four children, the youngest aged seven, to take the sailing boat "Swallow" and camp on an island near their summer holiday home. This is a story of being explorers: Captain, Mate, Able-seaman, and Ship's Boy. Of Amaz...
Kaethe
Kaethe rated it 13 years ago
I wrote a review of this and it disappeared. It was a good review, too, nicely scathing about the tedium and the kids playing with matches and ending with a reference to Heart of Darkness as a metaphor for British colonialism.That it disappeared only solidifies in my mind the idea that it was the fi...
meganbaxter
meganbaxter rated it 13 years ago
I'm taking it that this is a beloved children's book in England, given that it made it onto the BBC's Big Read list. I don't really see it. It was fine, but it didn't have the magic of some other great British children's books. Not a patch on Enid Blyton, for instance.Four children convince their mo...
Allusion is not Illusion
Allusion is not Illusion rated it 15 years ago
This is a superficially simple tale about four siblings spending a week camping on a small island. They meet two local sisters and play pirates with them. I'm sure if I had read it as a child myself I would have loved the concept. As an adult I found it a little hard to get into at first. Not much h...
Bettie's Books
Bettie's Books rated it 15 years ago
With Jean Anderson.Categories:Drama, Action & AdventureI especially like this production where it is explained that childhood 'back then' is a completely different entity to childhood today.
Austen to Zafón
Austen to Zafón rated it 16 years ago
I started reading this to Logan and he kept saying he liked it, but when we began reading Little House in the Big Woods, he never asked for this again. So I started reading it myself, but I've abandoned it in favor of grown-up books. From what I read (about 1/3), I like how independent these kids ar...
Reading Maketh a Full Man...
Reading Maketh a Full Man... rated it 16 years ago
This is the first book of a 12 book series, written by Arthur Ransome. You are introduced to the Walker family taking a summer holiday during the 1930's in the Lake District where years before the mother had spent some of her holidays. The father is in the Royal Navy onboard a ship based in Malta ...
debnance
debnance rated it 19 years ago
Gee. I've had this on my shelf for over two years! I finally got to it this summer. It started slowly for me. At first I didn't think I would like it. Gradually, as I read more and more, I began to love these kids. Camping on their own deserted island. Cooking their own foods. Fishing. Battling "pir...
thebookcoop
thebookcoop rated it 29 years ago
I read this series of books when I was about 10-11 and became obsessed with them. I'm not sure how many times I read these books over and over again. I loved the adventure and wanted to be a part of them
Need help?