Arthur Ransome
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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( R ) -> Ransome, Arthur
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
One of the best stories in the series 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.
I remember reading Peter Duck as a child and being a little disappointed. As a child the adventures of the Swallows & Amazons was best when they were as far away from adults as possible. Battling Uncle Jim / Captain Flint for his houseboat was one thing - going on a sea voyage with him in charge was quite another.Re-reading the series as an adult, however, I see this in a whole new perspective. Simply put the actual story, and the story-telling, racks amongst the highest in the series. The scope of the book, running from the mouth of the broads which we come to love later in the series, right down to Crab Island in the Caribbean is wonderful. The intrigue and adventure is at a higher level to match too.
Arthur Ransome is one of the story tellers who believes in dealing with "bad people" head on - and in this tale, Black Jake and his crew are really some of the most despicable characters in children's literature. We always hope they will meet a sticky end. However, the writing is a little out of date now in terms of some derogatory words used for black people and Spaniards. I believe such language can be used as an important educational tool to explain why we no longer use these words (it should be noted that it is the rough characters that use these terms).
The book never comments on this as being "fictional". Of course they are all fictional tales, but this is fiction within fiction because we find out in other books that this was a tale made up by everyone. However, it is still written very realisitically and anyone with a love for sailing will find the chapters about the setup of the boat or the sailing down the North Sea and the English Channel wonderful.
Editorial Review:
The third book in Arthur Ransome's wonderful series for children, Peter Duck takes intrepid explorers John, Susan, Titty, and Roger Walker and fearsome Amazon pirates Nancy and Peggy Blackett onto the high seas. Under the command of the infamous Captain Flint (Nancy and Peggy's Uncle Jim), the children brave a real-life pirate and his cutthroat crew, fogy, sharks, and the ravenous crabs of Crab Island in the search of buried treasure.
