Books - Review

Dick and Dorothea turn up at the Blacketts at the beginning of the holidays only to learn that Great Aunt Maria is about to descend and they have to go off and live in the Old Dogs Home in the woods. But they collect their brand new boat, learn to sail and burgle Beckfoot to get the stuff Timothy needs.

Jolly good. Must re-read the rest.

The Swallows crash into a rock and sink, but make the best of it camping in Swallowdale, while the Blacketts have to cope with the Great Aunt.

Great. Really enjoyed this again!
Read this again 3-12-2021, having read Swallows and Amazons to Molly a few weeks back. While she quite liked S&A, she is currently deeply into Harry Potter, and was not interested in Swallowdale. I will try her again another time though. I loved it this time round - I would give it an 8.5 today!

Captain Flint plans to take the Swallows and Amazons on a sea voyage, aboard the newly restored schooner Wild Cat but plans change at the last minute and Peter Duck joins the crew as able-seaman. He tells the story of when as a lad, 50 years ago, he was castaway on Crab Island in the Caribbean and saw two men bury a box at the foot of the tree he was sleeping in. Captain Flint and the crew determine to see if they can find this treasure, but can they avoid the unwelcome attention of Black Jake and his piratical crew aboard the Viper?

Awesome. Really enjoyed this one. Such a good story. Can't wait for Winter Holiday next.

Dick and Dorothea arrive for a winter holiday at the lake, and after signalling to Mars they meet up with the Swallows and Amazons. They plan an expedition to the North Pole, but are running out of time with a new school term fast approaching. But then Nancy falls ill, and suddenly everything becomes possible.

Fabulous, loved it. Definitely one of my favourite Swallows and Amazons books. So many good bits - learning to skate, the Fram, building an igloo, rescuing sheep, sailing a sledge and secret codes. Softly, at first, as if it hardly meant it, the snow began to fall. Read a chunk of this at the Hanmer Springs water park in the boiling hot sunshine.

Dick and Dorothea are visiting the Norfolk Broads, desperate to start learning how to sail but are devastated to learn that Mrs Barrable isn't a confident enough sailor by herself to teach them. However, help arrives when local boy Tom Dudgeon needs to hide from the Hullabaloos, whose motor cruiser he cast off to save a coot's nest. Tom, together with his friends Port and Starboard (twins), and the Death or Glories (pirates) are more than capable of taking the D's, Mrs Barrable and William the pug on a voyage around the Broads, while keeping as far away from the Hullabaloos as possible.

Fabulous. Just sailing around the Broads is adventurous enough, what with tides, storms, bridges and mud - never mind dodging the thoroughly unpleasant Hullabaloos. Great story.

The Swallows, Amazons and D's head to High Topps in search of gold. But with a drought which has lasted for weeks making water scarce and the risk of fire very real - is it practical or even safe for them to be camping miles from home? And what if rival prospector Squashy Hat finds the gold mine before they do? Can they produce a gold ingot ready for Captain Flint when he returns from his trip to South America?

Brilliant. So much interesting stuff going on all the time! Action packed.

The Swallows are staying at Pin Mill for a few days, waiting to meet their father at Harwich, returning home from China. They meet Jim Brading aboard his small ship Goblin, and are invited to join him as crew for a couple of days of cruising around the harbour. Everyone promises mother that they will not leave the harbour and go out to sea, and will be back in time to meet father. But Jim makes an ill-fated decision to leave his ship on a quick errand, not knowing it is the last he will see of the Goblin for three days. Fog descends, the tide turns, the anchor drags, the anchor chain is lost and before long the Swallows find they have broken their promise to mother.

Terrific. Very exciting story, although I always consider this one my least favourite, just because it only has the Swallows in it. It's still very good though - love the bit with the red Woolworth plates and the torch.

The Swallows are dropped off by their parents in Goblin in an almost deserted marshy tidal area (Hamford Reserve in Essex) with the objective of mapping the islands and waterways. They begin surveying straight away but quickly realise they are not the first adventurers to reach the area. Then the Amazons arrive, and they seem keener on declaring war on the local eel tribe than completing the map.

Great story ,loads of little sub-adventures, plenty of action, including more potentially mortal peril when Titty, Roger, Bridget and Sinbad try to cross the Wade as the tide turns.

Back on the Norfolk Broads with Dick and Dorothea, but now the Death or Glory's are accused of setting boats adrift, and stealing from a chandler's. But Tom and the D's stand by their friends and work to not only prove them innocent but catch the real criminals in the act.

Super story, gets very tense towards the end. But all so realistic.

The Swallows and Amazons are returning home from a trip around the world in the Wild Cat with Captain Flint, when they run into trouble in the South China Sea. Shipwrecked and captured by pirates they are taken under the wing of Missee Lee who initially thinks she can recreate her days at Cambridge University by teaching her captives Latin and Greek. But Missee Lee also has to placate her pirate partners, Taicoons Chang and Wu who would rather their prisoners were dead in order to keep the location of their island home a secret. Can they escape under cover of the dragon festival?

Wonderful story. Great characters and a fabulous adventure. A little bit racist of course but it was written in 1941.

The D's arrive at Beckfoot for the summer, excited to start sailing their brand-new boat, Scarab, only to learn that the Great Aunt is about to descend on them all and spoil everything. But if they can hide out in the woods while the Amazons convince the GA that they are reformed characters, maybe they can salvage something from the ruins of their holiday.

Excellent story, one of my favourites now, although as a kid I think it wasn't - maybe because I wasn't as fond of the D's as characters then. One more to go - Great Northern! It's on order at the library.

The Swallows, Amazons and D's are sailing the Sea Bear on a cruise around the northern isles of Britain with Captain Flint. In an isolated Scottish loch near an unknown bay Dick thinks he has discovered a nest of Great Northern Divers. But all the books say that Great Northern divers do not nest in Britain. Desperate to prove this discovery to the world of ornithology by taking photographs of the nesting birds, they have to work against time, and also foil the plans of horrible Mr Jemmerling, an egg-collector determined to get scientific glory for himself by shooting the birds and taking the eggs. The local laird also does not seem welcoming towards any visitors to his valley.

Fabulous story, beautifully told. Even the bits where they just sail the Sea Bear around are really cool. Last one in the series - although I have never read his incomplete(?) book Coots in the North.