Promotional Information

The first in Arthur Ransome's charming, thrilling and inspirational series. The book that has set generations of children and their parents afloat, on the high seas of the Lake District.

About the Author

Arthur Ransome was born in Leeds in 1884. He had an adventurous life - as a baby in he was carried by his father to the top of the Old Man of Coniston, a peak that is 2,276ft high! He went to Russia in 1913 to study folklore and in 1914, at the start of World War I he became a foreign correspondent for the Daily News. In 1917 when the Russian Revolution began he became a journalist and was a special correspondent of the Guardian. He played chess with Lenin and married Trotsky's personal secretary, Evgenia Petrovna Shelepina. On their return to England, he bought a cottage near Windermere in the Lake District and began writing children's stories. In a 1958 author's note, Ransome wrote: "I have been often asked how I came to write Swallows and Amazons. The answer is that it had its beginning long, long ago when, as children, my brother, my sisters and I spent most of our holidays on a farm at the south end of Coniston. We played in or on the lake or on the hills above ... Going away from it we were half drowned in tears. While away from it, as children and as grown-ups, we dreamt about it. No matter where I was, wandering about the world, I used at night to look for the North Star and, in my mind's eye, could see the beloved sky-line of great hills beneath it. Swallows grew out of those old memories. I could not help writing it. It almost wrote itself." He published the first of his children's classics, the twelve Swallows And Amazons books, in 1930. In 1936 he won the first ever Carnegie Medal for his book, Pigeon Post. He died in 1967.

Reviews

I read the entire series of Arthur Ransome's children's books as a child and thought they were absolutely fantastic. They were full of adventure, all sorts of exciting things happened and they were truly inspirational
*Ellen MacArthur*

The book I remember most from childhood. I wanted to be with them on their escapist adventures with their boats and picnics and summer in beautiful Cumbria
*Daily Express*

You'll want to give this to your children as a window on a time when adventures came from swimming, fishing, camping and exploring rather than in an Xbox...The best line is when Nancy reveals that she is really called Ruth, but changed her name when she heard that pirates are ruthless
*Independent*

A book that has stood the test of time... enchanting and escapist
*Sunday Express*

My favourite was the first, Swallows and Amazons, which starts with Roger, aged seven, tacking his way up a field. I knew nothing of halyards, forestays, strops or sheaves, but I was enchanted by what Swallows Roger, Susan, John and Titty, and Nancy and Peggy, the Amazons, got up to with them so cleverly and bravely.My own summer holidays were never quite as exciting, and I never stopped longing to meet them all
*Daily Telegraph*

Gr 3-5-The first title in Arthur Ransome's classic series, first published more than 80 years ago, receives top-notch treatment here. The four Walker children are thrilled to discover that they will be allowed to camp on an island just across the harbor from their summer abode. They are positively gleeful that no grown-ups will be allowed. John, Susan, Titty, and Roger assign themselves boating titles and responsibilities. Well taken care of in terms of provisions made available to them, they enter into a "war" with two sisters nicknamed "The Amazons." Add in the Amazons' crabby seaman uncle who thinks the Warner children are responsible for the theft of his manuscript, and enjoy a ripping tale full of adventure, humor, and mystery. Narrator Alison Larkin easily portrays the enthusiasm and exuberance of the children, and gives each one a unique voice. Her excellent pacing, musical voice, and British accent are perfectly suited to this old-fashioned yet engaging story. Additional titles in the series are available from Brilliance Audio.-B. Allison Gray, Santa Barbara Public Library System, CA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.