Growing up the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome was one of my favorite series. When I decided to re-read it as an adult I was worried that it would not stand the test of time. I was delighted to find that in general found it just as enjoyable now as I did as a child. The characters, writing style and adventures are great and I truly enjoyed the series. ( )

Another fun escapade with these young explorers. This time around, the children are prospectors, determined to discover gold before the Amazons' uncle comes home from South America. The plot is a little slow to get going (the well-meaning "natives" keep getting in the way); once the children settle into their camp, however, the action proceeds apace with spirit and humor. (There's a great subplot involving an unknown visitor Uncle Jim has sent on ahead, and the expectations that build up as the visitor keeps failing to appear.) Everything ends well as usual -- if not quite the way anybody expects -- and the children help out in a major way when not-so-natural disaster strikes. I love fantasy and magic, but it's also nice to read stories where regular Muggles can have adventures and even save the day every once in a while. ( )

There is very little sailing in this sixth instalment in Arthur Ransome’s marvellous series of books set in the early 1930s and featuring the Swallows and Amazons, together with the Ds. The Walker children and Dick and Dorothea Callum have made their way to the Lake District at the beginning of the summer holidays. The Swallow is not yet available, however, and as the eight children would leave the Amazon heavily overcrowded they have decided instead to explore the High Topps, the moor land overlooking the lake. Nancy and Peggy have been making preparations to explore some of the old abandoned mine working that are scattered all over the moorland, in the belief that they might be able to prospect for gold. Their mother is concerned about them camping too far away from home to be in regular contact, which is where the pigeons come in. The Amazons have acquired three homing pigeons which they will take with them, despatching one each day with a message, and then sending someone back home each fourth day to retrieve them and collect further stores. An added complication is the prolonged drought that has beset the area, leaving the moors as dry as tinder, and bring the threat of heathland fires.

Ransome develops the story brilliantly. He clearly understands children’s approach to life and he never patronises them., The prose is simple and lucid, and he captures the relationships between the different children with great facility. The children are immensely resourceful, but in a perfectly plausible manner. That is, perhaps, one aspect of the book that dates the novel. No-one seems to question the propriety of allowing a group of eight children to camp unattended out on the moors. While their ages are never explicitly stated, I imagine that Roger, the youngest, was probably nine or ten, while Nancy and John, the oldest two, are probably twelve or thirteen at most. In Britain in 2016, social services would be intervening, and their families would be under investigation for neglect.

The novel does demonstrate Ransome’s own imagination, and his deep understanding of the way that children’s imagination works. All of the Swallows, Amazons and the Ds allow themselves to be absorbed into the world that they have created, in which the local village becomes ‘Rio’, corned beef becomes ‘pemmican’ and bottles of ginger beer become ‘grog’. Similarly, once they are camping on the High Topps they become utterly immersed in the world of prospecting, defending their discovering and terrified of rivals ‘jumping’ their claim. Ransome’s characters were clearly all very well read, and raised on adventure stories of the same calibre as his own works.

It is well over forty years since I first read this book. At that time, I thought it was the best in this series, and one of my all-time favourites. I was gratified to find that those views still hold true. ( )

The story of a gold hunt in the hills, with a rather unexpected ending. The caricatures of the children involved work because they (and Captain Flint) fit quite well with the nine Enneagram psychological types. A good book with some excitement, albeit rather dated. ( )

A childhood classic that I read again recently and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. As an adult, I can see how Nancy creates her own games for them all. The mining is a game, and made more fun by having a possible claim-jumper. But Nancy is also mature enough to know where the game ends - they rapidly work alongside the 'enemy' when it is important to do so.

Definitely a keeper and I'll be going back to re-read more books in the series.

It's strange now, to see how much the world has changed. Not only the lack of mobile phones, but even land lines were rare when this book was written. Cars were few on the road, camping was incredibly basic with no gas stoves, etc.

A slower paced world, and maybe the better for it. ( )