Secret Water (Godine Storyteller) [Paperback]

Arthur Ransome (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Godine Storyteller

In the eighth book in Arthur Ransome's beloved Swallows and Amazons series, the five Walker children are left on a "desert island" by their parents with provisions for a long stay and a blank map to fill in. Like all of Ransome's books, this is at once a real adventure and a lesson in the practicalities of exploring - in this case, of surveying the inlets, coves, mudflats, and estuaries of "Walker Island." Naturally, there are enemies to overcome (another clan named "The Eels") and friends to meet (who else but the intrepid "Amazons?"). And, as always, the children do it all solo.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of Arthur Ransome's beloved Swallows and Amazons series from the 1930s can enjoy yet another volume with the reissue of Secret Water, the eighth installment in the ongoing nautical adventures of the Walker and Blackett children (Swallows and Amazons, respectively), now camping out alone on a desert island. With black-and-white illustrations.

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Once more the Swallows and the Amazons have a magnificent exploring adventure; once more Arthur Ransome has kept a complete record of their experiences, terrors, triumphs and set it down with the cunning that casts a spell over new children and old." --Times Literary Supplement

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: David R Godine; Revised edition (February 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567920640
• ISBN-13: 978-1567920642
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great family values, January 13, 2001

By 

Carl Brookins - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Water (Hardcover)

Naval Commander Walker, with the complete cooperation of his wife, their mother, maroons his five children on a tidal island on the coast of England. Of course, the children, ranging from the eldest, John, to the youngest, Bridget, are even more enthusiastic than their parents. It's summer vacation time again and the family is looking forward to a time camping and exploring the island. Then Commander Walker's bosses, the Lords of the Admiralty, decree his presence is required in London. All is gloom until Walker persuades his wife that these kids have demonstrated their responsibility and can be left alone for a time.

This is the eighth in an excellent sailing/adventure/camping series from this author. Like the others, Secret Water, is a careful chronicle of the Walker children's adventures. Along the way readers are treated to practical advice about camping, sailing, and dealing with tides and mud. This book also introduces new characters and reunites the Swallows and The Amazons. All of it is impeccably written with style, verve, great pace, a mystery or two and the sensitivity of the author to the attitudes and perceptions of children of various ages. This is a book that can be read by children of every age.

A bonus is the large number of pen and ink illustrations, done by the author.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An unassuming little gem, April 10, 2001

By 

Steve Benner "Stonegnome" (Lancaster, UK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Water (Hardcover)

After the excitement of "We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea", Arthur Ransome's eighth story in the Swallows and Amazons series returns to more comfortable and comforting territory. Set very shortly after the children's ordeal at sea in the previous volume, "Secret Water" finds the Walker children "marooned" on an island in the tidal area of Hamford Water, Essex. Here they spend a week or so, camping and surveying the low-lying islands, tortuous channels and tidal flats, whilst also having to deal with the quandary of whether to make friends with (or wage war upon) the local savage tribesmen. Once, of course, the small matter of one of their number being taken for a human sacrifice has been resolved!

This story is something of an attempt to return to the simple style of tale that worked so well with both "Swallows and Amazons" and "Swallowdale": a tale of children building a world of their own creation and at the same time learning to deal successfully with the real world in which they find themselves. After some of the more exciting later volumes in the S&A series, though, some readers may find the results just a little flat.

As always, though, Ransome weaves his tale through the deftest handling of prose and most adults at least should find this tale as charming as any the others in the series. It is nice, too, to see that the young Bridget is now able to start participating in the activities of her siblings.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Secret Water, June 10, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Secret Water (Godine Storyteller) (Paperback)

Secret Water is a great book!!! I'm a 10 year old boy and I love it. My favorite part is when they gather with their savage friends and have a big feast. Anybody would like it just as much as I did.