Vintage Children's Classics publish the best books in a beautiful, affordable and accessible styleGrowth of children's market: Office for National Statistics indicates an 11% growth in primary-aged children to 2026.Includes the original b/w illustrations and maps by Arthur RansomeExtra material includes: 'who's who' guide to characters, quiz about the book, background info on setting, characters, boats and author, code-cracking game.Survival and adventure tale of four children from the pre-health and safety generation - their father's motto is "Better drowned than duffers." A book that fans of
Dangerous Book for Boys will enjoy.Ransome was the 1930s equivalent of JK Rowling - the
Swallows and Amazons series had sold more than a million copies by the time the last was published, and have sold many millions more sinceMajor BBC films adaptation due summer 2012 - billed as a "white knuckle ride, action adventure" that will find the same audience as the Harry Potter franchiseThe Arthur Ransome Society (TARS) boasts more than 2,000 members, with groups in North America, Australia and Japan exchanging news and views on the exploits of Captain John and his crew through such august publications as The Outlaw and Ship's Log.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.
'Swallows and Amazons for ever!'
Rediscover this classic tale of adventure.
The Walker children - also known as Captain John, Mate Susan, Able-Seaman Titty, and Ship's Boy Roger - set sail on the Swallow and head for Wild Cat Island. There they camp under open skies, swim in clear water and go fishing for their dinner. But their days are disturbed by the Blackett sisters, the fierce Amazon pirates. The Swallows and Amazons decide to battle it out, and so begins a summer of unforgettable discoveries and incredible adventures.
EXTRA ACTIVITIES INCLUDED: Crack the Swallow's code and learn all about the adventurous author in the brilliant extra educational resources included in this edition.
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 inspirationalThe 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 CumbriaYou'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 ruthlessA book that has stood the test of time... enchanting and escapistMy 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
