From the Bookshelf of Retro Reads

Swallows and Amazons
by
Start date
August 5, 2025
Finish date
September 4, 2025
Discussion
Retro Children & YA Books
Discussion leader
Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂

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Group Discussions About This Book

* Retro Children's Books
By Elinor · 338 posts · 216 views
last updated May 29, 2024 04:27PM
Swallows and Amazons August 2025 Spoilers thread
By Carol She's S… , She's a mod, yeah, yeah, yeah! · 17 posts · 15 views
last updated Aug 13, 2025 11:08PM

What Members Thought

Mir
Jan 06, 2010 rated it really liked it
Shelves: adventure, younger
This is a superficially simple tale about four siblings spending a week camping on a small island. They meet two local sisters and play pirates with them. I'm sure if I had read it as a child myself I would have loved the concept. As an adult I found it a little hard to get into at first. Not much happens actionwise in the first half of the book. The kids set up camp and we get a lot of useful information about boating. However, as the days pass and the characters' personalities became more deve ...more
CLM
Aug 02, 2007 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Better drowned than duffers; if not duffers, won't drown...

In this first book of the series, the Walker children's father gives permission for them to spend the summer camping out and sailing in the Lake District of England. They expect to spend their time exploring, making maps, improving their sailing skills - and do not expect pirates or rivalry from others on the lake!

I recently tried to read this aloud to my nephew. I found that really did not work because there was too much nature and sail
...more
Jackie
Aug 11, 2025 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
I will have to think about this book, which I enjoyed despite some slight irritation on all the sailing details which I didn't always understand. I do think this is an excellent way for children to be raised - outside with only distant supervision - and am sure these children grew up to do amazing things as adults, but at the same time I maybe wanted a little more info about their lives when not on vacation. ...more
Jenn Estepp
May 05, 2018 rated it really liked it
I can definitely understand why it's a classic and so beloved by so many. I think if I had read it as a kid I would have been allllllll about it. As an adult, I still really liked it but I also thought, "Um, this is a LOT of sailing, eh?" ...more
Jodi
Jun 05, 2009 rated it really liked it
Peggy
Nov 15, 2011 marked it as to-read
Linda
Jan 03, 2012 added it
Shelves: children
Theresa
Mar 08, 2013 rated it really liked it
Cindy
May 23, 2013 marked it as to-read
Eilonwy
Oct 13, 2013 rated it liked it
Veronique
Jul 12, 2014 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Carolien
Jul 31, 2014 marked it as to-read
Ashley Nichols
Nov 21, 2014 marked it as to-read
Katy
Jul 21, 2017 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Sunshine
Jan 19, 2018 marked it as to-read
Sneezep
May 10, 2018 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Annette
Dec 08, 2018 marked it as to-read-soon
Catie
Feb 06, 2022 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Karigan
Feb 20, 2022 marked it as to-read
Susie
Sep 30, 2024 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: children
CindySR
Jun 20, 2025 marked it as to-read
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