Book Review: Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransom

Swallows and Amazons, written by Arthur Ransome in 1930, is one of the most perfect children’s adventure novels I have ever read. My only regret is in taking so darn long to get to it.

Despite being a reader and lover of English children’s literature, somehow I never knew about Swallows and Amazons until I started homeschooling. When I sampled it, I knew that the literary value was extremely high, but I wasn’t in a place where I could appreciate the adventure of it all. I wasn’t feeling well back then, and my kids weren’t old enough to enjoy it yet. I acknowledged its value and made a note to have it in my home, but then moved on to things that were better suited to the season we were in. When I opened my library, all of that changed. 

My patrons (boys 8-12 in particular) could not get enough of the series. Longish books, written with sophisticated English, and full of old-fashioned references, this series didn’t seem like it would appeal to the average boy reader of today. I do have above-average boys in my library, but I wasn’t expecting how popular this series would be with them. When my own Jack read it and loved it and insisted that I try it again, I considered it. Still, there were so many things making claims on my attention, that I wasn’t sure I had the time to commit to it. In between other books, however, I tried. And the first two or three chapters were interesting, but not compelling. I set it aside feeling more disappointed in myself than in the book. 

Finally, this summer marked the close of a particularly stressful and intense season for us. My brain was ready for adventure. Plus, the weather was warm and inviting, and I was ready to read about children camping on an island. I started anew. And this time I was swept up in the magic and found the story very hard to put down. 

I offer all of this context in case the mama reading has, like me, tried and failed to love these books. I offer that if you are reading this, maybe you too were in the wrong season? Maybe it is worth a try again. 

“…with a lake as big as a small sea, a fourteen-foot dinghy with a brown sail waiting in the boathouse, and the little wooded island waiting for explorers, nothing but a sailing voyage of discovery seemed worth thinking about.”

The Walker family is a normal English family in the non-specific time between WWI and WWII. Father, a sea captain, is away on a voyage to Hong Kong, and Mother has taken a cottage for the summer on a small lake. The children (John-12, Susan-11, Titty-9, and Roger-7) are smitten with the idea of “discovering” the uninhabited island in the middle of their lake, and they petition their parents to let them camp out on the island by themselves. 

“BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN” read Daddy’s telegram which meant, of course, that he gave his approval to the idea. And so, Mother set to work making tents and packing provisions while the children made “Ship’s Articles,” and prepared the dinghy named Swallow for sail. 

As a mother, I was a little aghast at the idea that Mrs. Walke