Two Kid Schoolhouse

• Aug. 7, 2006 - Arthur Ransome

Posted in Swallows and Amazons

Anyone else love Arthur Ransome's novels? We read Swallows and Amazons last month. It's about 4 siblings summering in England's Lake District; Swallow is the sailboat they have the use of for the summer. They end up camping on a "desert island" in the middle of the lake, with no adults to supervise them - what a dream! (Mom and baby sister stay on the "mainland;" Daddy's away working.) They meet some pirate friends (two sisters, the Amazons) and a retired pirate (the girls' uncle). They have a war, they capture a ship, they find buried treasure. After a bit of a slow start - too much technical sailing information in the beginning for E - we grew to love it. I I blogged about it and our serendipitous sailing trip before.

Now we are reading Swallowdale. We had to stop in the middle because E had a 3-day sleepover with some friends. When our friends brought her home, they stayed overnight at our house. Less than an hour after they left, the kids were begging me to get back into Swallowdale.

These are the kinds of read-alouds that capture the imagination and spark a lot of creative play. There are a lot of books in these series, but these are not "series" novels. This is not twaddle - surely Charlotte Mason would approve of these books.

Apparently Mr. Ransome is very popular in England, much more so than here in the US. This site has a lot of information on the books and the author, including a guide to the books. Very much worth checking out!

• Aug. 7, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by JenIG

we have two dvds, one of them is the swallows and amazons that you mentioned. it was a british produced show, i didn't realize they were based off of a novel.
:)

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• Aug. 8, 2006 - :)

Posted by mrsdiamond

interestng. I shall see if my library has those books!

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• Aug. 8, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by eyecorn

Those sound wonderful....stories you just get lost (meaning involved) in! Thanks for sharing the info and the site!

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• Aug. 6, 2008 - Peter Duck is the 3rd one in the series of Swallows and Amazons!

Posted by Monique

Hello! I realize that I am posting a comment two years later! However, I just could not resist, as I am a huge fan of Swallows and Amazons. I read the whole series many many times as a girl, ages 8 to 12 ish, and loved them. Now I am a homeschooling mom of 5, ages 6-12, and I am reading the series to them. Please tell me you went on to read Peter Duck after S&A and Swallowdale! PD was even MORE exciting!! :-)

Edited by Monique on Aug. 6, 2008 at 9:37 PM

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