Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fiction, Incredibook!, Review
Tags:Arthur Ransome, expedition, imagination, North Pole, Swallows and Amazons, Winter
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Our rating: 
Dick and Dorothea are staying at Dixon’s farm for their winter holiday. So when they meet the Swallows and Amazons, it’s time for some imaginative adventures! The itinerary? Expedition to the North Pole. The problem? The lake hasn’t frozen yet, and nobody can properly make an expedition to the North Pole without a frozen lake. Will the lake freeze in time? Find out in this excitement-packed fourth Swallows and Amazons book.
I’ve never been a big fan of winter. But when I finished this book, I almost wished I was. The children have so much fun and do so many exciting things that even I, a self-proclaimed winter humbug, couldn’t help wishing I was with them. There’s not really anything to complain about here, either, making this one of my favorites in the Swallows and Amazons series and a book that’s easy to recommend.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Arthur Ransome, Funny, Monkeys, parrots, pirates, sailing, Seafaring, Swallows and Amazons, treasure hunting
1 Comment »
Our rating: 
The Swallows and Amazons, along with Captain Flint (the Amazons’ Uncle Jim) are preparing for a holiday in a small schooner, the Wild Cat. When they hire Peter Duck as an extra sailor, things begin to happen. The notorious Black Jake and his ship Viper begin following their every move. Why? Peter Duck was witness to a treasure burial many years ago and word has gotten to Black Jake. Captain Flint thinks a go at treasure would be a good vacation, so off they sail into an adventure.
Peter Duck is meant to be a story made up by the Swallows and Amazons during a winter holiday. However, this is never explained, so the book could be as real as you want it to be. Here we have a rollicking good time hunting for treasure, fighting pirates, and sailing on the open sea. I thought the story dragged a little at the beginning, but once Arthur Ransome hit his stride, I was carried along and reading at a furious rate. Guaranteed to make you wish you were sailing!
Posted by Sarah
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Arthur Ransome, Good Read Aloud, Seafaring, Swallows and Amazons
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John, Susan, Titty, and Roger return to the lake with high hopes. But everything seems to go wrong. Nancy and Peggy have a very prim and proper great-aunt with them, so they can hardly get out to play. Then the Swallow wrecks and must be sent off to Rio to be fixed. However, the explorers find a hidden little valley and decide to move in.
I didn’t like this book as much as the first one. There isn’t as much boating what with the Swallow wrecked, and it isn’t quite the same without Nancy and Peggy there all the time. Also, Titty performs some kind of magic to make the great-aunt go away, which I didn’t think needed to be in there. But setting these things aside, it can still be an enjoyable read. I just didn’t like it as much as the first one, Swallows and Amazons.
Posted by Ruth
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Arthur Ransome, Good Read Aloud, Seafaring, Swallows and Amazons
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Our rating:
When the Walker children, John, Susan, Titty, and Roger, receive permission to explore and camp for a full week on the island nearby where they’re vacationing, they are positively delighted. They set out in the sailboat, the Swallow, and the adventures begin. A few days after their arrival, they meet Nancy and Peggy Blackett, who are crusading as fearsome Amazon pirates. A friendship is struck up immediately and an offense-or-defense treaty is signed, so that they can war together or against each other as desired. But their one common cause is against Captain Flint (or rather, Nancy and Peggy’s Uncle Jim), living on a houseboat, whose terrible crime is a refusal to join in their fun this summer.
I really had a lot of fun reading this one. I’d never heard of it before until just a month or two ago, but even though it’s considered Juvenile Fiction, I’m convinced that readers of any age would enjoy Swallows and Amazons. After all, who hasn’t dreamed as a child of having adventures on a remote island? Being centered so much around boats, there is a lot of boat-related jargon that I found difficult to pick up on at first, but by the time I’d made it halfway through the book I was able to follow along without a problem.
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