Swallows and Amazons

Reminded of this book by Melanie, I pulled Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome, (1930) off one of our children's literature shelves a few weeks ago. It had been there since Patrick received it in 8th grade. He never got a chance to read it, and I didn't either until last week.

This is a satisfying story, full of summer fun, adventurous sailing, and childhood imagination. The thing I like best about it overall is that the parents and children have a trusting relationship. In far too many current works of juvenile fiction, the parents are portrayed as stupid or unnecessary. Parents are either absent, overbearing, or complete failures at understanding their children.

In Swallows and Amazons, however, the children are honest with their parents. They generally ask before doing things, and they are given permission if their request is reasonable. Also, their parents listen to them in order to hear whether or not the request is reasonable before making a decision. The main-character family has a relationship of mutual respect, and the parents have final authority.

The story begins as the children are awaiting permission to camp out on an island in the middle of the lake on which their summer home is located. Their father is away, and they have written to him (Dad isn't stupid either in this story; there's much respect for his advice and opinion from both mother and children). The children are willing to live by his answer. There's no plotting of what they'll do to get around it if he says no. And he says yes, via a wonderfully-worded telegram, and the adventure begins.

The children are self-reliant and handle sailing and camping with great imagination and fun. It's an adventure story, not a moral tale, but respect for a dults, and the good grace to feel insulted when that respect is undeservedly not returned, is clear.

One of my favorite scenes in the book comes when John, the eldest, returns to camp from a sail home to discuss a problem with their mother:

"Just when they were finishing washing up after a tea that had been very native [meaning, the way it would be on the mainland with grownups present], probably because Susan was still not feeling happy about having let them stay up until morning, Captain John came home.
His first words were, 'I told mother about our being out all last night and not coming home till to-day.'
'Was she very upset about it?' said Susan.
'I think she was rather, inside. But she hid it, and it's all right now. Only, I've promised not to do it again.'
After that, Susan cheered up and became much less like a native and more like a mate."

This is the first in a series, and I enjoyed it so much, I'm going to have to hunt up a few more. I hope Katie will be in the mood for a good sailing story soon.

Update: One thing I forgot to mention was the one thing that bothered me in this story. The children tell each other to shut up on several occasions. These are words that we don't use in our family, and even though the children in the story are generally very respectful of each other, these words did not show it. Further, they weren't necessary to the story. Something else could have been said to show annoyance. It was the one minor blip (that could be deleted when reading aloud) and something I would want to mention to Katie ahead of time and discuss later to see if she agreed that the story would stand without the hurtful words. The parts do not condemn the whole in this story, and I still heartily recommend it with this alert in place.