I liked the addition of extra characters of Peter Duck and Bill, and an actual sea voyage and buried pirate treasure! Wonderful stuff! Of course the adult me wonders slightly at the plot - would the Swallow's crew's mother really have let them disappear with Captain Flint and the Amazons for weeks on end without knowing where in the world they'd gone? Would the children really have escaped unharmed from the happenings on the island? But then I remember it's a book written for children from a completely different time, and allow my sense of disbelief to settle back into its state of suspension.

Susan is dependable and sensible as expected (oh to be excited by the gift of a first aid box as a Christmas Present), and all the characters remain true to form. This, the third in the series, is the first with any sense of real peril, though of course the bad things only happen to the secondary characters. It is with great pleasure that I am revisiting the Swallows and Amazons series I first enjoyed as a child. In 1936 he won the first ever Carnegie Medal for the sixth book in the Swallows and Amazons series, Pigeon Post.Ĭharming childhood adventure on the high seas He used many of these holiday settings for his children's stories, notably the much-loved Swallows and Amazons, a book that sits comfortably in the category of 'timeless classic'. As a child he enjoyed active, outdoor holidays: sailing, camping and exploring the countryside. Born in Leeds in 1884, it was his father, a nature-loving history professor, who inspired his love of the outdoors and nurtured a passion for fishing. Under the command of the infamous Captain Flint (Nancy and Peggy's Uncle Jim), the children brave a real-life pirate and his cutthroat crew, fog, sharks, and the ravenous crabs of Crab Island in the search for buried treasure.Īrthur Ransome was a prolific writer of children's books.

The third book in Arthur Ransome's wonderful series, Peter Duck takes intrepid explorers John, Susan, Titty and Roger Walker, and fearsome Amazon pirates Nancy and Peggy Blackett, onto the high seas. Such longevity is not only due to Ransome's unparalleled gift of storytelling, but also his championing of qualities such as independence and initiative virtues that appeal to every generation, whether young or old. Originally published over a half-century ago, the twelve books are still eagerly read by children and adults alike - by all those captivated by the world of adventure and imagination. For anyone who loves sailing and adventure, Arthur Ransome's classic Swallows and Amazons series stands alone.

Peter duck arthur ransome