The Butter Rum Cartoon: SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS

From somewhere Micki and I got a copy of a movie called "Swallows and Amazons." It looked like a kids movie and so we put it off until bored enough to watch it, and WOW! It pulled both of us back to the adventures of childhood - adventures we lived or dreamed about. It was fun! We got to know and live with the Swallows (Walker children): John (Captain), Susan (Mate), Titty (Able-Seaman), and Roger (Ship's Boy); and the Amazons (Blackett children): Nancy and Peggy, who claim Wild Cat Island.

We wanted more, and found that the movie was based on a 12-book series, written in the 1930s and 40s by English author and journalist, Arthur Ransome (1884-1967). The series is very popular in England, with the adventures mostly taking place in the Lake District and the Norfolk Broads, but I don't think it's very well known in the U.S., unfortunately.

And so of course I collected all 12, the entire series, and read them all. It was a different experience. Not as fast moving as most children's series, it imbeds a whole new world into your heart. Ransome's writing is detailed, sometimes even how-to, and puts you right there. In writing about the series here, I feel like reading it all over again.

1 Swallows and Amazons (1930)

2 Swallowdale (1931)

3 Peter Duck (1932)

4 Winter Holiday (1933)

5 Coot Club (1934)

6 Pigeon Post (1936)

7 We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea (1937)

8 Secret Water (1939)

9 The Big Six (1940)

10 Missee Lee (1941)

11 The Picts and the Martyrs (1943)

12 Great Northern? (1947)