Customer Reviews

Big Six

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"Big Six" is Arthur Ransome's ninth book in the Swallows and Amazons series. It features neither Swallows nor Amazons but rather follows once more the adventures of the two D's and their friends of the Coot Club on the Norfolk Broads. In this story, some members of the Coot Club happen to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and suddenly find themselves accused of certain misdeeds. Unfortunately, the allegations hanging over them are serious enough to threaten the very future of the club unless the true miscreants can be discovered and exposed. So, rather than spending their time sailing or engaged in acts of bird preservation, the Coot Club has no choice but to turn into a detective agency instead, determined to clear the name and restore the reputations of their friends.

The central plot aside, Ransome still finds ways within this story to involve the children in many typical pre-war Norfolk Broads' activities and introduce us to some wonderful Norfolk characters. Indeed, throughout this book, he manages to paint a vivid picture of life on the Broads in a by-gone era; all using language and a writing style that should appeal to both children and grown-ups alike. As usual, the story is presented with intelligence, charm and wit, as well as with an overriding humility and an obvious love for the places and people of whom he writes.

Some episodes in this book (especially the smoking of the eels) will have most adults crying with laughter, while for the majority of younger readers the excitement of the detective story will undoubtedly be the overridingly memorable element. Ultimately, though, it is the author's heart-warming respect for children and the way they see the world around them that shines through and makes this book so enjoyable for readers of all ages.

The other group of children that Arthur Ransome created, the Death or Glories and Tom Dudgeon, Port and Starboard, collectively known as the Coot Club are here embroiled in another adventure. Accompanied by the Ds, whom avid readers will know from earlier AR books, they turn detective and track down the villians who are casting off boats on the Norfolk Broads. As usual Arthur Ransome was writing in a class of his own. A note of caution: don't imagine that Norfolk and the surrounding countryside, especially Lowestoft, bears any resemblance to the places described in these books. The last two thirds of the 20th century were not kind to our poor old country and nowhere is this more starkly illustrated than in our seaside towns. Read the book instead and dream of life before the car was king.

An outstanding example of Ransome's work. A wonderful childern's book that is woth reading at any age. Teaches you a lesson about sticking to it.
Three boys are thought to be casting off boats in a small English village. They are implicated by everyone in town. They do not give up, but become detectives to extricate themselves. In an ingenious and evolving plot they manage to catch the real perpetrators. The night time ending is as exiciting as anything.
Whether you read it once or a 100 times you'll love it

That's what Dorothea Callum, aspiring novelist, says when she and brother Dick learn of the troubles of their old friends the Norfolk Coots. But a detective story is what the Callums end up living as they try to help mend the situation. This book probably takes place concurrently with "We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea" and "Secret Water;" it's September, near the end of the summer holidays, and Dick and Dorothea have come down to Horning to stay with Mrs. Barrable again (presumably their parents are off on another archaeological jaunt). The Six of the title are the D's, doctor's son Tom Dudgeon, and the young Death and Glories, Bill, Joe, and Pete (Port and Starboard, the twin sisters of "Coot Club," have been shipped off to boarding school in Paris). The D&G's, through circumstantial evidence, are suspected of setting adrift a number of boats and of stealing and selling a quantity of naval shackles, and Constable Tedder is determined to bring them to book. In sheer self-defense the Six resolve to prove their innocence--and thanks to Dorothea's creative mind and Dick's keen powers of observation, plus a clever photographic trap, they succeed. Though the very best volumes of this series take place in the Lake Country, and there's not as much sailing or even imaginative play in this one as in most, the detections of the Six are very well done, with some of the best scenes coming as Dorothea tries to put herself into the skin of "the villain," as they call whoever seems to be setting the D&G's up for a fall. A good change of pace for this beloved series.

I loved this book and all the other books by Arthur Ransome. My Mom read them when she was young and said I should read them too. She was right. The story is exciting, the characters are fun and I couldn't put this book down.

You don't have to have ever visited to Norfolk Broads. You don't even have to be 12. Ransome's brilliant writing will take you there; to a place and to a time when children were still real children and lived and enjoyed their own special kind of pre-adult life. The plot, the characters, the dialogue, the drawings and Ransome's un-put-downable storytelling make The Big Six an evocation of life in an innocent Britain before the age of saturated tv and computer games when children sailed boats, took risks, had adventures- and most of all - had fun.

Many American children are tremendous readers. As a grandmother I find it difficult to give my grandchildren books that they haven't read. The Arthur Ransome books are a good solution. The books are nearly all about Messing About in Boats, and they are set in Britain. Get used to a girl named Titty and the books are not too dated. The kids all specialize in self reliance which I consider a vital characteristic in the young!

The D's return to the S&A series and to the Norfolk Broads in a late summer adventure.

This time, they come to the aid of their friends, the Coot Club, who find themselves suspects when boats are repeatedly set adrift along the broads, always when they're around. The police are questioning them and the townspeople are hostile. The kids, sadly realizing that they can't count on the law, start gathering evidence on their own.

What follows is a fun low-tech version of CSI as they inspect bicycle tire tracks, handprints in paint, and other clues. But when a theft heats things up, the kids have to set a cunning trap to reveal the real culprits.

This is a fun, stimulating novel for kids. Lots of independent adventure and some practical material for budding criminalists. And there's Ransome's affectionate portrait of the Norfolk Broads and its waterside lifestyle that (by all reports) is mostly gone now.

One debit: A character briefly cuts loose with some language that was innocent for the time period but is objectionable today. (The dreaded "N" word...) It's not done maliciously but parents might want to ready a discussion with their kids about it. But don't let that stop you from enjoying this fine book.

Next in the series: A problematic fantasy with MISSEE LEE.

Ransome has done it again, doing a fabulous job of describing the escapades of the ship Swallow and the ship Amazon. I recommend this book to all those in love with the sea, or in love with a good story!