MISSEE LEE [Hardcover]

ARTHUR RANSOME (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: JONATHAN CAPE (1955)
• ASIN: B000SBLOHE
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Arthur Ransome was born in Leeds in 1884 and went to school at Rugby. He was in Russia in 1917, and witnessed the Revolution, which he reported for the Manchester Guardian.

After escaping to Scandinavia, he settled in the Lake District with his Russian wife where, in 1929, he wrote Swallows and Amazons. And so began a writing career which has produced some of the real children's treasures of all time. In 1936 he won the first ever Carnegie Medal for his book, Pigeon Post.

Ransome died in 1967. He and his wife Evgenia lie buried in the churchyard of St Paul's Church, Rusland, in the southern Lake District.



Photography (c) Arthur Ransome's Literary Executors & courtesy of the Brotherton Collection, Leeds University Library

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Swallows and Amazons in China, September 25, 2001

By 

W. Weinstein "William Weinstein" (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Missee Lee (Hardcover)

Once again Arthur Ransome comes up with a grand adventure for the children he introduced in his earlier books. This time they are sailing a small schooner through little-charted waters in the China Sea. After a disastrous fire on board, they are washed ashore, along with Captain Flint (Nancy and Peggy's Uncle Jim if you are not familiar with these books) on a small chain of islands and captured by Chinese pirates. Those over-sensitive souls among us may find the depiction of Chinese natives, and the rendition of their accents, less than PC, but I read this book for the first time at the impressionable age of nine and I don't think it coloured my attitude to Chinese people in any negative way. What this books does, as superbly as all Mr Ransome's others, is convey the excitement that children feel if they are allowed a little freedom. Our poor children today, molly-coddled and over-protected by our anxious selves can only dream of adventures such as these. Luckily, they have books like this to transport them to such faraway places where we, as parents, cannot interfere.

5.0 out of 5 stars International Educator, April 2, 2001

By 

Adrian (Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Missee Lee (Hardcover)

I read this book as a child and they helped me to get interested in reading. I then went on to read every book in the series. About four years ago, I attend an international school's meeting in the Hague Holland and was sitting with 4 other teachers supervising students in a hotel at night and we got to talking about our favorite children's book. I named this book and two others agreed. I think that it was this book that fired me up to want to have adventure and is responsible for me becoming an international educator. I have spent most of my life searching for that thrill of adventure that I first experienced in these books. I recommend this series to you.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Racism In Ransome, October 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Missee Lee (Paperback)

...This is a great adventure story, but definitely has racist elements. However, like the racism in the Little House books towards the native American Indians, it may well be a result of ignorance rather than malice.