Swallows and Amazons

This is an utterly charming audiobook! Arthur Ransome's story about the four Walker siblings ("Able Seaman" Titty being my favorite!) and the two "Amazon Pirate" girls and their idyllic adventures during a perfect August in 1929 sailing around a big lake in the Lake District and camping on Wild Cat Island in it is vividly, humorously, winningly told. Ransome is so good at capturing how kids play, with one half of their minds and hearts in fantasyland (pirates, explorers, the Pacific ocean, sharks, buried treasure, sea battles, walking the plank, deserted islands, etc.) and one half in the real world (making safe fires, cleaning fish and pots and pans, teaching a younger sibling how to swim, managing sailboats efficiently, etc.). He's so good at depicting how their thoughts and imaginations and hearts work! And his girls, especially Titty and Nancy, are at least as imaginative, bold, wild, and strong as the boys.

I cringed at first when I heard the kids referring to the "natives" (locals) from the standpoint, I thought, of "civilized white explorers," but then it turned out to be their way of signifying killjoy adults who are too serious to enter into the kids' fantasy world and became a complex and interesting use of language.

The reader, Alison Larkin, is perfectly suited to the book. She speaks clearly, thoroughly understands and feels what she's reading, slightly varies her voice for the different characters (from Ship's Boy Roger to Captain Flint), and speaks with infectious good humor and spirit, so that listening to Ransome's delightful text becomes a big smiling and chuckling pleasure.

The book is also surprisingly moving (without being at all sentimental), as when, near the end, Mrs. Dixon, the local farm woman who has been supplying the kids with fresh milk every morning, says she'll miss them after they leave the lake the next day, and Titty says, "But we'll be back next year and every year after that for ever and ever," and Mrs. Dixon replies, "Aye

What a marvelous book this is! Listening to Ransome's "Swallows and Amazons" made me nostalgic for a childhood I didn't even have... Children are sure to find the book delightful, as the characters are very appealing and their resourcefulness quite inspiring. Alison Larkin's narration is pitch-perfect. Each character has his or her own, distinctive "voice," and Larkin does a beautiful job of making the adventure very real. I'm looking forward with great anticipation to reading the other books in the series.

This is an utterly charming audiobook! Arthur Ransome's story about the four Walker siblings ("Able Seaman" Titty being my favorite!) and the two "Amazon Pirate" girls and their idyllic adventures during a perfect August in 1929 sailing around a big lake in the Lake District and camping on Wild Cat Island in it is vividly, humorously, winningly told. Ransome is so good at capturing how kids play, with one half of their minds and hearts in fantasyland (pirates, explorers, the Pacific ocean, sharks, buried treasure, sea battles, walking the plank, deserted islands, etc.) and one half in the real world (making safe fires, cleaning fish and pots and pans, teaching a younger sibling how to swim, managing sailboats efficiently, etc.). He's so good at depicting how their thoughts and imaginations and hearts work! And his girls, especially Titty and Nancy, are at least as imaginative, bold, wild, and strong as the boys.

I cringed at first when I heard the kids referring to the "natives" (locals) from the standpoint, I thought, of "civilized white explorers," but then it turned out to be their way of signifying killjoy adults who are too serious to enter into the kids' fantasy world and became a complex and interesting use of language.

The reader, Alison Larkin, is perfectly suited to the book. She speaks clearly, thoroughly understands and feels what she's reading, slightly varies her voice for the different characters (from Ship's Boy Roger to Captain Flint), and speaks with infectious good humor and spirit, so that listening to Ransome's delightful text becomes a big smiling and chuckling pleasure.

The book is also surprisingly moving (without being at all sentimental), as when, near the end, Mrs. Dixon, the local farm woman who has been supplying the kids with fresh milk every morning, says she'll miss them after they leave the lake the next day, and Titty says, "But we'll be back next year and every year after that for ever and ever," and Mrs. Dixon replies, "Aye

My 8 year-old-daughter and I absolutely loved this book, and the narration was superb! It's a classic adventure story of tremendous imagination and good-hearted humor that will make you glad to be alive. Marvelously entertaining and inspiring, and wholesome without being cloying. The Britishisms can all be deciphered in context and provide an opportunity for some fun discussions of American versus British English. My daughter and I enjoyed this on long rides, to the point of not wanting to get out of the car when we'd arrived at our destination. Parents, you will be reminded exactly what children value and how to be a kindred spirit to your children, and kids will meet likeable role models whose earnest explorations will embolden their hearts. Not to be missed! We are continuing on with the whole series. Absolutely love the narrator, as well!

I have read this series since I was a child. The reading met all of my expectations. I greatly enjoyed hearing this reading of Swallows and Amazons and I hope Audible does the whole series. It was particularly fun to listen to as I was biking along the Pacific coast while listening. The Swallows and Amazons were exploring the lake and I was also out in a similar area. This added something to just reading at home, making the audible book better than a physical book.

One of the best children's series of all time.

Published in 1930, this is a lovely example of the adventure story of days long past. Children who hardly quarrel live in a world safe enough to camp alone on an island, have a brief but friendly war with some other neighborhood children, and reveal the truth about a vandalism incident to a grumpy old man. It's a lovely idyl. Some of the old-fashioned language, as well as the nautical terms, my confuse younger children, but the overall level is from about 7 (with adult help perhaps) to 11 years old. It's a nice listen, just don't spend time waiting for it to turn dark and 21st century young adult. It never does. The summer ends and a sequel follows.

What I love about Swallows and Amazons is the freedom the children take for granted. It was a different world.

I loved the war against Captain Flint alias Uncle Jim.

I have loved this book since when I was a child, and have had the imaginary voice of a "man" instead of woman narrator.

It is ok the narrator is a woman, but to me, the voice and how she read it killed the atmosphere of each scene, making it a mere children's fishing holiday than an adventure.