Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One that still works, 28 Mar 2003
I've had a complete disaster with trying to get my 12 year old son to enjoy Arthur Ransome, easily my favourite author when I was his age. He doesn't see the point of them or empathise with the characters or plots at all - Peter Duck and Missee Lee are the two exceptions - I guess they are sufficiently high drama and fantastical enough to capture him. So, if your child isn't getting to grips with the tame, benign world of the other Ransome titles, try him or her on this one. It might just work.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An adventure story that sucks you in, 7 Dec 2004
I remember how, reading this as a child, the opening pages kindled my imagination so that I was transported on board the little schooner "Wild Cat", watching gleefully as stores were brought on board at its Lowestoft quay and the companions-in-adventure arrived. Ransome's words are supported by a number of drawings executed in his usual style (deck plans showing berths, stores, shipmates etc), perfectly designed to draw susceptible youngsters into the enclosed world of the schooner. On reading this beginning, any child who has enjoyed other books in the series can't help but know they have a treat in store.And Ransome proceeds to deliver, as events fall into place that turn what was meant to be a pleasure cruise into a quest to recover buried treasure. There's a suitably ruthless piratical adversary called Black Jake who, with his equally black-hearted crew, challenge the crew of the "Wild Cat" in a race to Crab Island in the exotic Caribees, to seek whatever Peter Duck saw buried there, decades before. This novel, along with one or two other titles (Missee Lee and We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea come to mind) take a different turn from the "traditional" Swallows and Amazons adventure with their Cumbrian holiday settings. Here, there are fantastic yarns being spun, with real sea-going and blood-and-thunder piracy. And there's also Peter Duck -- who readers will recall from Swallowdale as the imaginary friend of one of the Swallows -- coming to life in order to stride through the pages (or at least, up and down the deck) of this first rate children's adventure.
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Swashbuckling childrens adventure!, 10 Dec 2000
By A Customer
This volume in Arthur Ransome's "Swallows and Amazons" series finds the Swallows and Amazons in rare old adventuring form, sailing off to the distant Caribbean (together with grown-ups Captain Flint and the original Old Salt Tar himself, Peter Duck) in search of buried pirate treasure! Along the way, they have to contend with numerous hazards, from sailing in thick fog in the English Channel, to enduring earthquake and tempest, as well as fending off a shipload of villainous pirates intent on getting their hands on the same treasure. If this all sounds rather more daring and far-fetched than can be found in other "Swallows and Amazons" stories, there is good reason for this - although the explanation is not revealed until the next book, "Swallowdale". (This latter was originally published as the second volume of the series but, for obvious reasons, is best left until after you've read "Peter Duck"!)Despite its somewhat fanciful content, Ransome keeps the tale eminently believable and builds the excitement gradually, drawing the reader inexorably into the events that unfold. You really do just have to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next! By the latter stages, it becomes impossible to put down. Sprinkled with numerous delightful pen and ink illustrations (charmingly credited to the Swallows and Amazons themselves!) this book is a lovely production. In short, it is nothing short of a little masterpiece that should be on everyone's reading list.
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