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Swallows and Amazons #5
Coot Club
Tom Dudgeon has cast off a motor cruiser from its moorings to protect a coot's nest, but now the cruiser is searching high and low for him - even offering a reward. Tom accepts an invitation for a week's cruise to teach his new friends, Dick and Dorothea how to sail. You couldn't get a better sailor than Tom but can he really stay one jump ahead of his pursuers long enough to complete the voyage?
406 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1934
63 people are currently reading
822 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Ransome
280 books277 followersArthur Michell Ransome (January 18, 1884 – June 3, 1967) was an English author and journalist. He was educated in Windermere and Rugby.
In 1902, Ransome abandoned a chemistry degree to become a publisher's office boy in London. He used this precarious existence to practice writing, producing several minor works before Bohemia in London (1907), a study of London's artistic scene and his first significant book.
An interest in folklore, together with a desire to escape an unhappy first marriage, led Ransome to St. Petersburg, where he was ideally placed to observe and report on the Russian Revolution. He knew many of the leading Bolsheviks, including Lenin, Radek, Trotsky and the latter's secretary, Evgenia Shvelpina. These contacts led to persistent but unproven accusations that he "spied" for both the Bolsheviks and Britain.
Ransome married Evgenia and returned to England in 1924. Settling in the Lake District, he spent the late 1920s as a foreign correspondent and highly-respected angling columnist for the Manchester Guardian, before settling down to write Swallows and Amazons and its successors.
Today Ransome is best known for his Swallows and Amazons series of novels, (1931 - 1947). All remain in print and have been widely translated.
Arthur Ransome died in June 1967 and is buried at Rusland in the Lake District.
In 1902, Ransome abandoned a chemistry degree to become a publisher's office boy in London. He used this precarious existence to practice writing, producing several minor works before Bohemia in London (1907), a study of London's artistic scene and his first significant book.
An interest in folklore, together with a desire to escape an unhappy first marriage, led Ransome to St. Petersburg, where he was ideally placed to observe and report on the Russian Revolution. He knew many of the leading Bolsheviks, including Lenin, Radek, Trotsky and the latter's secretary, Evgenia Shvelpina. These contacts led to persistent but unproven accusations that he "spied" for both the Bolsheviks and Britain.
Ransome married Evgenia and returned to England in 1924. Settling in the Lake District, he spent the late 1920s as a foreign correspondent and highly-respected angling columnist for the Manchester Guardian, before settling down to write Swallows and Amazons and its successors.
Today Ransome is best known for his Swallows and Amazons series of novels, (1931 - 1947). All remain in print and have been widely translated.
Arthur Ransome died in June 1967 and is buried at Rusland in the Lake District.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
November 25, 2017
Turn away from the news of Trump and North Korea and sexual harassment, and lose yourself for a few hours in Arthur Ransome's 1930's classics, the Swallows and Amazons. In Coot Club, number five in the series, Dorothea and Dick end up on a sailing boat, in the region of Norfolk. The two adventurers, and modern readers, are introduced to that special world of yachts, barges, tow boats, rowboats, and the rivers, marshes, and sea they all sail upon that still existed in a prelapsarian world of openness, trust, and camaraderie in the 1930s. There's a moment when the twins, aka Port and Starboard, jump from one ship to another in pursuit of a third without even knowing the names of the sailors on board. It's a scene that would make helicopter parents call out the Third Army, the nation's entire supply of black helicopters, and the whole Coast Guard in order to bring the little tykes safely home. Instead, a telegram is sent, a phone call is made, and the sailing continues. The innocence of the exchange makes your heart ache for something that we humans in grownup, civilized countries have completely lost and will never have again.
Instead, we have mobile phones, iPads and Facebook. It's a poor exchange, and we are sadder for it.
And yet, Coot Club is an adventure story, with hooligans, traitors, pirates, and thugs to keep things lively. The difference is that there is a clear, bright line between the good guys and the bad guys, and no one has any trouble telling the two tribes apart. Even the hooligans. I'm no nostalgia buff, but in our rush toward progress surely it can do no harm to pause once in a while and ask ourselves what we have had to give up in exchange for our shiny gadgets and 24-7 access to It All.
And the answer is: much.
Instead, we have mobile phones, iPads and Facebook. It's a poor exchange, and we are sadder for it.
And yet, Coot Club is an adventure story, with hooligans, traitors, pirates, and thugs to keep things lively. The difference is that there is a clear, bright line between the good guys and the bad guys, and no one has any trouble telling the two tribes apart. Even the hooligans. I'm no nostalgia buff, but in our rush toward progress surely it can do no harm to pause once in a while and ask ourselves what we have had to give up in exchange for our shiny gadgets and 24-7 access to It All.
And the answer is: much.
April 5, 2021
This is the fifth instalment in the Swallows and Amazons series.
Dorothy and Dick were new characters to arrive in the Swallows and Amazons series, in the previous instalment. Here they become stars of their own story, as the reader follows their time holidaying lakeside. They make new friends, as well as new enemies, and learn more about their new passions of sailing and animal preservation as they do so.
This entire series has been the epitome of good, wholesome fun. The two books I have liked far less than the others, however, have been those that feature a higher ratio of adults per adolescent main characters. This is the second novel to fall into this category and I found it marginally less enjoyable, as it ensured it was removed from the imagination and self-made adventures that some other stories have featured.
Dorothy and Dick were new characters to arrive in the Swallows and Amazons series, in the previous instalment. Here they become stars of their own story, as the reader follows their time holidaying lakeside. They make new friends, as well as new enemies, and learn more about their new passions of sailing and animal preservation as they do so.
This entire series has been the epitome of good, wholesome fun. The two books I have liked far less than the others, however, have been those that feature a higher ratio of adults per adolescent main characters. This is the second novel to fall into this category and I found it marginally less enjoyable, as it ensured it was removed from the imagination and self-made adventures that some other stories have featured.
October 6, 2020
"That were a real good 'un,"
The fifth installment of S's & A's comes with a quite a bit of change by moving the story away from the Swallows and Amazons. We are now in a phase where D's from Winter Holidays are the link to original story. Though all new characters were full of action, it was a bit disappointing to not see the old gang.
As for the plot, if felt to be written in a style more similar to that of Peter Duck, the third in the series. Though this one is not a fantasy or an imaginative one like Peter Duck, the narration and the type of experience felt a bit similar.
Personally, this is my least favorite one yet. Don't get me wrong - for the story is entertaining - but compared to the first, Swallowdale and Winter Holidays, I liked it a bit less.
The fifth installment of S's & A's comes with a quite a bit of change by moving the story away from the Swallows and Amazons. We are now in a phase where D's from Winter Holidays are the link to original story. Though all new characters were full of action, it was a bit disappointing to not see the old gang.
As for the plot, if felt to be written in a style more similar to that of Peter Duck, the third in the series. Though this one is not a fantasy or an imaginative one like Peter Duck, the narration and the type of experience felt a bit similar.
Personally, this is my least favorite one yet. Don't get me wrong - for the story is entertaining - but compared to the first, Swallowdale and Winter Holidays, I liked it a bit less.
September 20, 2022
So much fun! I wish I knew all of the characters and lived where they lived and had all the adventures that they did, and more!!
June 29, 2008
As a child these were my favourite books, I loved stories of adventure and my family holidayed in the English Lake District where the Swallows & Amazon books are set so I knew the places they visited.
Coot Club, along with Big Six is set in the Norfolk Broads and doesn't feature the Swallows & Amazons so it's not my favourite but I still love it!
Whilst on holiday I would imagine meeting the Swallows and Amazons on every lake. At school my friends and I would play Swallows and Amazons. My best friend Sarah and I, being the only ones who were truly obsessed by the books would take charge and we would, of course, be the Amazons. Sarah was always Nancy and I, Peggy. Whichever of our other friends were roped in would be the Swallows. We would tack our imaginary boats across the Lake (the playground) and camp on Wild Cat Island (a mound at one end of the playground with two large elm trees on it).
I still read these occasionally and can't wait till my own daughters are old enough for them!
Swallows and Amazons for Ever!
Coot Club, along with Big Six is set in the Norfolk Broads and doesn't feature the Swallows & Amazons so it's not my favourite but I still love it!
Whilst on holiday I would imagine meeting the Swallows and Amazons on every lake. At school my friends and I would play Swallows and Amazons. My best friend Sarah and I, being the only ones who were truly obsessed by the books would take charge and we would, of course, be the Amazons. Sarah was always Nancy and I, Peggy. Whichever of our other friends were roped in would be the Swallows. We would tack our imaginary boats across the Lake (the playground) and camp on Wild Cat Island (a mound at one end of the playground with two large elm trees on it).
I still read these occasionally and can't wait till my own daughters are old enough for them!
Swallows and Amazons for Ever!
January 1, 2020
As a birdwatcher I had a particular fondness for Ransome’s books that focus on birds including Great Northern and this great read, Coot Club. Every child should have a summer spent on water with a worthwhile cause such as protecting a coot nest from marauding animals or oblivious and irresponsible humans as it was in this read. As in other Ransome books the children are responsible, creative and physically active. Summers are an adventure because the children choose adventure. I have never done much boating or any sailing as in Coot Club but can identify with the children’s active outdoor lifestyle that embraced watching and protecting nature. Coot Club was another children’s book I recommended to my area book club where both children and adults would find inspiration and adventure. Ransome keeps you turning pages as you watch the coot protectors avoid the uncaring sector of humanity who moved in the same waters. A hopeful end brought the book to a close and the reader ready for another Ransome book. My first introduction to the Ransome books was through my grandparents, hopefully I can pass this series on to the next generation to inspire and motivate.
February 23, 2021
Enjoyed this Swallows and Amazons book set on the Norfolk Broads.
March 3, 2013
Here is an example of the kind of parent I would like to be:
"Look here, dad, what would you do if the only way to get to our baby was up this dyke, and mother and you and me were all on the other side of the river, and a huge motor-cruiser was fixed right across the opening of the dyke, so that none of us could get in, and our baby was all alone, and we knew that if we didn't get to him soon he'd go and die?"
"Do?" said the doctor. "Why, we'd scupper that cruiser. We'd blow it sky high. We'd...But what's it all about, old chap? Don't you go trapping me into prescribing before diagnosis. Let's have the symptoms first. Tell me all about it..."
And Tom, walking up and down with his father in the darkening garden, and already feeling a good deal better, poured out the whole story....
"Thinking it all over, you know, in terms of the monster, and talking it over with your mother, considering her as a coot, I've come to a conclusion. It's a pity it's happened, of course, and I'll be very much obliged to you if you can manage not to let those rowdies catch you, but, looking at the case as a whole, your mother on one side of the cruiser and our baby on the other, I don't really see what else you could have done."
"I won't let them catch me," said Tom.
"I'd much rather they didn't," said his father. "Good night, old chap."
"Good night, dad," said Tom, and blew out his candle lantern. (78-9)
"Look here, dad, what would you do if the only way to get to our baby was up this dyke, and mother and you and me were all on the other side of the river, and a huge motor-cruiser was fixed right across the opening of the dyke, so that none of us could get in, and our baby was all alone, and we knew that if we didn't get to him soon he'd go and die?"
"Do?" said the doctor. "Why, we'd scupper that cruiser. We'd blow it sky high. We'd...But what's it all about, old chap? Don't you go trapping me into prescribing before diagnosis. Let's have the symptoms first. Tell me all about it..."
And Tom, walking up and down with his father in the darkening garden, and already feeling a good deal better, poured out the whole story....
"Thinking it all over, you know, in terms of the monster, and talking it over with your mother, considering her as a coot, I've come to a conclusion. It's a pity it's happened, of course, and I'll be very much obliged to you if you can manage not to let those rowdies catch you, but, looking at the case as a whole, your mother on one side of the cruiser and our baby on the other, I don't really see what else you could have done."
"I won't let them catch me," said Tom.
"I'd much rather they didn't," said his father. "Good night, old chap."
"Good night, dad," said Tom, and blew out his candle lantern. (78-9)
November 3, 2019
An exciting sailing adventure for children, A Great story that never loses its appeal.
May 7, 2024
Coot Club (Swallows and Amazons #5) by Arthur Ransome
First published in 1934 by Jonathan Cape
I read the 1969 softcover by Puffin Books
Arthur Michell Ransome (January 18, 1884 – June 3, 1967) was an English author and journalist. He was educated in Windermere and Rugby.
Blurb -
It all started with a coot's nest. Dorothy and Dick meet Tom Dodgeon, Port and Starboard, and three pirate salvagers all members of the Coot Club Bird Protection Society. When one of the coot's nests is disturbed by a shipful of Hullabaloos-rude holiday boaters - trouble begins. Frantic chases, calamitous boat collisions, and near drownings fill the pages of this exciting fifth addition to Ransome's classic series.
My thoughts -
This is another book that had been lingering on my shelves for decades. It turned out to be another pleasant surprise. Although my grandparents emigrated from Cornwall, England, I have been drawn to books that are set in Norfolk. In this book we follow a number of children who make up the Coot Club, some vacationers, some rowdy power boat renters, and a lovely assortment of local folks who come together in this tale about boating on some of the connected rivers on the eastern England coast. I found myself totally immersed in the story.
First published in 1934 by Jonathan Cape
I read the 1969 softcover by Puffin Books
Arthur Michell Ransome (January 18, 1884 – June 3, 1967) was an English author and journalist. He was educated in Windermere and Rugby.
Blurb -
It all started with a coot's nest. Dorothy and Dick meet Tom Dodgeon, Port and Starboard, and three pirate salvagers all members of the Coot Club Bird Protection Society. When one of the coot's nests is disturbed by a shipful of Hullabaloos-rude holiday boaters - trouble begins. Frantic chases, calamitous boat collisions, and near drownings fill the pages of this exciting fifth addition to Ransome's classic series.
My thoughts -
This is another book that had been lingering on my shelves for decades. It turned out to be another pleasant surprise. Although my grandparents emigrated from Cornwall, England, I have been drawn to books that are set in Norfolk. In this book we follow a number of children who make up the Coot Club, some vacationers, some rowdy power boat renters, and a lovely assortment of local folks who come together in this tale about boating on some of the connected rivers on the eastern England coast. I found myself totally immersed in the story.
April 9, 2023
I still want a sailboat. Just a Titmouse sized one will be fine.
September 3, 2018
I love the Swallows & Amazons world with my whole heart. This book features neither of the series titular groups, but it is an easy favorite. It starts with a kid taking direct action against rich, thoughtless “hullabaloos” in order to protect the lives of birds—he sets their motor cruiser adrift. The adults agree he’s done what’s right, but now he’s an “outlaw” on the run.
The kids sail, take risks, have adventures, get into and out of scrapes. They’re inventive, and welcoming. It’s an idyllic world, one I’m always glad to escape to. Plus, the pug narrates a few pages in this one.
The kids sail, take risks, have adventures, get into and out of scrapes. They’re inventive, and welcoming. It’s an idyllic world, one I’m always glad to escape to. Plus, the pug narrates a few pages in this one.
March 29, 2025
Coot Club, the fifth book in Arthur Ransome’s series of children’s books that began with Swallows and Amazons, marked something of a departure from the previous stories. Here, the action moves from the Lake District to the Norfolk Broads, although Dick and Dorothea from the previous book, Winter Holiday, provide some continuity with the earlier books in the series. It’s an engaging story of adventure and concern for nature at risk from commercial forces and ignorance about the delicate balance of the natural world. Although slow to get going and in navigating the new setting of the Broads, it’s an entertaining and empowering story of adolescent initiative and action in the face of adult ignorance and carelessness.
September 23, 2021
The first of the Swallows & Amazons series to feature neither the Swallows nor the Amazons, Coot Club is heavy on the technical intricacies of sailing but rather light on meaningful stakes for its characters. None of the children are as compelling, or experience as much change, as those in the earlier books, with the result that - aside from a couple of exciting chapters - it's a rather slow and turgid read. Couple that with a rather abrupt ending and it definitely places the book towards the lower end of the otherwise excellent series.
March 13, 2019
This adventure story is the 5th book in the series of 13. I found this book to be a real enjoyable adventure and it was exiting to read with a new captivating characters. It was a interesting book as it was exciting and compelling. It was a good ending where they are returned. I would recommend this books to people of all ages and of either gender.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 25, 2020
Such fun with beautiful, evocative descriptions and inspiring characters with morals and attitudes worthy of imitation.
May 5, 2023
We had fun with this one, although competing (school) car audiobooks meant this was slow in getting finished. I really enjoy this series just as much as the kids.
September 15, 2023
just bc we were in norfolk and these books make me so nostalgic xx
February 27, 2020
This is my least favorite of the Swallows and Amazons so far. The river setting is unfamiliar and none of the original cast were in it. Still a fun story though.
January 5, 2023
Although part of the "Swallows and Amazons" world, this book focuses on different - and very interesting - characters, the siblings Dick and Dorothea, who want to learn to sail, and Norfolk natives Tom, Nell and Bess (the latter two twins, usually called Port and Starboard). Whereas the Swallows and Amazons sailed on a lake that was an amalgam of Coniston Water and a few other Lake District lakes, this book is extremely precise with its geography. It's set in the Norfolk Broads, an area of many twisting rivers and small lakes. There are several maps (a bit hard to read on a Kindle, unfortunately), and lots of real detail about tides, moorings, bridges, railroad crossings, and the like.
The book is set in the 1930s, when wherries and barges were still mostly sailing ships, and motor launches, hired by Londoners to ram around and make noise, were treated with suspicion. Not surprisingly, such Hullabaloos are the bad guys. One of the most refreshing aspects of all these books is that they show young people, maybe age 10 to 14 or so, vitally interested in nature, full of initiative, independent, very good at what they do, thoughtful and helpful. No screens, no helicopter parents (though the parents do worry that they could get into trouble), no slackers.
I first read these books something like 60 years ago. They age very well. Read them and you'll want to go sailing at once.
The book is set in the 1930s, when wherries and barges were still mostly sailing ships, and motor launches, hired by Londoners to ram around and make noise, were treated with suspicion. Not surprisingly, such Hullabaloos are the bad guys. One of the most refreshing aspects of all these books is that they show young people, maybe age 10 to 14 or so, vitally interested in nature, full of initiative, independent, very good at what they do, thoughtful and helpful. No screens, no helicopter parents (though the parents do worry that they could get into trouble), no slackers.
I first read these books something like 60 years ago. They age very well. Read them and you'll want to go sailing at once.
April 29, 2024
The current lady wife has never got further with Arthur Ransome than tv and film adaptations of Swallow san Amazons. She asked if I’d read one or two of the books to her and not being abbe to find any copy of the first in the series I selected one of my favourites. It's still one of my favourites and it's one of her favourites now.
Wonderful storytelling and the bringing to life of a childhood I wish I had enjoyed myself.
Picked it up to read a page or two just to remind myself...and re-read the whole thing at a sitting. I might have to re-read the rest of them now.
I'm being mean only giving this four stars. Arthur Ransome is a delight and this adventure, with the best hero so far in the books in Tom , makes me want to sail the rivers and broads of Norfolk in a sailing boat. A sheer delight all the way through. Dash it.. I'm changing to 5 stars.
Wonderful storytelling and the bringing to life of a childhood I wish I had enjoyed myself.
Picked it up to read a page or two just to remind myself...and re-read the whole thing at a sitting. I might have to re-read the rest of them now.
I'm being mean only giving this four stars. Arthur Ransome is a delight and this adventure, with the best hero so far in the books in Tom , makes me want to sail the rivers and broads of Norfolk in a sailing boat. A sheer delight all the way through. Dash it.. I'm changing to 5 stars.
March 20, 2019
This one is sort of a spin-off. It focuses on Dick and Dorothea, the city kids who got drawn into the world of Swallows & Amazons in WINTER HOLIDAY, and their exciting adventures learning to sail with a whole bunch of other intrepid and imaginative kid adventures. What I like about the introduction of the Ds, as they are called, is that it can inspire people who weren't raised around boats and camping and the outdoor life to try their hand at it. After reading about Dick & Dorothea's adventures on the Norfolk coast, I was fantasizing about learning to sail myself! This book also has an environmentalist theme, as the children are all trying to protect nesting birds from callous vacationers in a motorized houseboat.
October 30, 2019
Dick and Dorothea go to visit an old family friend in the Norfolk Broads where they meet the Coot Club, a group of young sailors and bird lovers. I enjoyed the sailing and birding adventures and all the new characters, especially the Admiral and her pug, William. I did find the characters of the three “pirates” blurred together, as did the twins a bit, but kudos to the author for keeping his sequels fresh and interesting. The author’s illustrations and maps are a nice addition, but the maps are hard to read in the ebook version. One modern day caveat — don’t feed chocolate to dogs!
November 25, 2025
This is such a joy filled book, with children who aren’t unrealistic and are such wonderful characters to read, who want you to read more. The death and glories I specifically love because their loyalty and well rounded natures just make them intrinsically likeable, but the whole club ful of people are endearing. In my opinion a book for any age.
December 7, 2023
Re-read as audiobook.
August 28, 2022
This is not a bad book, just pretty slow moving and almost entirely focused upon sailing and nautical activities. It is the fifth book in a "series" of novels by Arthur Ransome, about sailing in and around England. We read this book as a selection for my children's homeschool curriculum, after having read the first book in Ransome's series some years before - 'Swallows and Amazons' (1930). We read this book without having read any of the books in between beforehand, and we did not feel like we missed anything because of that. Having read two of Ransome's stories in the Swallows & Amazons series, each of the books has the same tone and pace, although I would say much much fewer events, and much less action occurs in this 5th book than in the 1st book. The characters in this book are a little different from the first book, and here we are also in a different part of England. I am unfamiliar with England myself, but this entire book seems to take place in a part of England connected by canals, or a mix of natural and man-made waterways. Instead of driving, it is natural for characters in this novel to step out their front or back door and hop into a sailboat and take off to go to work, to the store, out to eat or any personal or professional purpose.
I would also say that this book has much much more technical terminology about sailing and boating than the 1st book does, which made it less enjoyable and definitely less accessible to me than the 1st book. At least in the 1st book the reader is introduced to characters who are new to sailing, so the author helps educate the reader along with the novice child sailors. In this book there is not much of that going on at all, as the cast, made up primarily of young children, are already expert sailors with the exception of only two children.
Younger children (8-10?) will find this book especially enjoyable, I think, because of the way that the children seem to drive the story and are responsible for what happens, be it good or bad. The involvement of adults is very limited, mostly only to one woman on one larger boat with some of the children, who is there more for her own adventure and does not dictate or boss around the children at all. The children in this book are free to do as they please, and in fact, what they please is to protect nesting birds who are in danger of being harmed by other out-of-town adults who rent a large motor boat and go roaring dangerously around the waterways.
I think this book is a nice bedtime story for kiddos, but whether you are reading it aloud or leaving it to them to read, the reader must be patient and willing to trudge through the deluge of nautical terms. They don't take away from the story, and it does not ruin your understanding of the action, but they are a bit much for a non-sailor like myself. If only the author, or publisher, would have put in more footnotes to help the reader better understand. There are several line drawings in the book, which are fun to look at and sometimes do help to explain what is going on when the terms used are too nautical.
I would also say that this book has much much more technical terminology about sailing and boating than the 1st book does, which made it less enjoyable and definitely less accessible to me than the 1st book. At least in the 1st book the reader is introduced to characters who are new to sailing, so the author helps educate the reader along with the novice child sailors. In this book there is not much of that going on at all, as the cast, made up primarily of young children, are already expert sailors with the exception of only two children.
Younger children (8-10?) will find this book especially enjoyable, I think, because of the way that the children seem to drive the story and are responsible for what happens, be it good or bad. The involvement of adults is very limited, mostly only to one woman on one larger boat with some of the children, who is there more for her own adventure and does not dictate or boss around the children at all. The children in this book are free to do as they please, and in fact, what they please is to protect nesting birds who are in danger of being harmed by other out-of-town adults who rent a large motor boat and go roaring dangerously around the waterways.
I think this book is a nice bedtime story for kiddos, but whether you are reading it aloud or leaving it to them to read, the reader must be patient and willing to trudge through the deluge of nautical terms. They don't take away from the story, and it does not ruin your understanding of the action, but they are a bit much for a non-sailor like myself. If only the author, or publisher, would have put in more footnotes to help the reader better understand. There are several line drawings in the book, which are fun to look at and sometimes do help to explain what is going on when the terms used are too nautical.
December 10, 2024
I have gradually been reading my children Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series. In general, they are good fun with dangers mostly created from the children's active imagination rather than the actual threat of evil doers or risky situations.
These are a set of books that hearken to a simpler time when parents let their children have a lot of freedom to have adventures, camp, and boat with fairly little supervision. I suppose that my view of these books is tempered a bit by having read the book "The Coddling of the American Mind" and see these books as the opposite of the safetyism that Haidt suggests is present in our culture.
All of that is preamble. Coot Club is not a book about Swallows and Amazons, but rather about Dick and Dorothea, who were first met in Winter Holiday. These children are taking an early summer vacation to spend some time with Mrs. Barrable aboard a houseboat. There they meet several local characters who eventually help them to sail the boat down the river.
The main character is Tom Dudgeon, who offends some outsiders early in the story and spends most of the book attempting to avoid them.
My children enjoyed the book. I will say that I don't think it measures up to some of the earlier books. I am guessing that the reason for this is that the children have adult supervision nearly all of the time and have less opportunities for imaginative play. Having to be at a certain point in time for low tide so you can lower your mast to get under a bridge may be interesting, but it doesn't have the same sparkle as children acting as raiders or a polar expedition hiking across a frozen lake.
I would highly recommend Swallows and Amazons, Swallowdale, and Winter Holiday. Peter Duck is a fantastical break from the others and you could probably skip Coot Club without missing too much.
These are a set of books that hearken to a simpler time when parents let their children have a lot of freedom to have adventures, camp, and boat with fairly little supervision. I suppose that my view of these books is tempered a bit by having read the book "The Coddling of the American Mind" and see these books as the opposite of the safetyism that Haidt suggests is present in our culture.
All of that is preamble. Coot Club is not a book about Swallows and Amazons, but rather about Dick and Dorothea, who were first met in Winter Holiday. These children are taking an early summer vacation to spend some time with Mrs. Barrable aboard a houseboat. There they meet several local characters who eventually help them to sail the boat down the river.
The main character is Tom Dudgeon, who offends some outsiders early in the story and spends most of the book attempting to avoid them.
My children enjoyed the book. I will say that I don't think it measures up to some of the earlier books. I am guessing that the reason for this is that the children have adult supervision nearly all of the time and have less opportunities for imaginative play. Having to be at a certain point in time for low tide so you can lower your mast to get under a bridge may be interesting, but it doesn't have the same sparkle as children acting as raiders or a polar expedition hiking across a frozen lake.
I would highly recommend Swallows and Amazons, Swallowdale, and Winter Holiday. Peter Duck is a fantastical break from the others and you could probably skip Coot Club without missing too much.
July 14, 2025
I read swallows and amazons as a kid and don't remember much about it except that I loved it. this fifth book in the swallows and amazons world did not disappoint.
this is a book about sailing, and I don't know the first thing about sailing. I don't know what they're talking about when they have to reef the sail, I can't picture most of the things they're doing with booms and jibs and awnings. the appeal for me is that this is set in 1930s britain and it's about children engaging with their world. these kids are embedded in their village community and the rivers, in their families, in their region. they are having realistic adventures based on the skills they have learned. they have a club and fast friendships, and they have a set of values. they are out there doing serious things, sailing boats where they have to know what to do about tides and navigable channels and weather. real things with real consequences.
the adults respect their skills and their aims, and foster their independence. one woman invites a brother and sister to come stay with her on a sailboat and ends up on a journey with those two and three other children, organizing practical matters such as food. twin sisters are handed up the river on a wherry and a tug boat and a barge, passed from these adults to those with no whiff of impropriety or harm.
there's just a wholesomeness about the whole thing. it's not a coming of age story, it's just a sailing adventure involving both children and adults who aren't their parents, but who care for them as part of the community without infantilizing them in any way.
this is a book about sailing, and I don't know the first thing about sailing. I don't know what they're talking about when they have to reef the sail, I can't picture most of the things they're doing with booms and jibs and awnings. the appeal for me is that this is set in 1930s britain and it's about children engaging with their world. these kids are embedded in their village community and the rivers, in their families, in their region. they are having realistic adventures based on the skills they have learned. they have a club and fast friendships, and they have a set of values. they are out there doing serious things, sailing boats where they have to know what to do about tides and navigable channels and weather. real things with real consequences.
the adults respect their skills and their aims, and foster their independence. one woman invites a brother and sister to come stay with her on a sailboat and ends up on a journey with those two and three other children, organizing practical matters such as food. twin sisters are handed up the river on a wherry and a tug boat and a barge, passed from these adults to those with no whiff of impropriety or harm.
there's just a wholesomeness about the whole thing. it's not a coming of age story, it's just a sailing adventure involving both children and adults who aren't their parents, but who care for them as part of the community without infantilizing them in any way.
March 7, 2021
Another in the Swallows and Amazons series I am reading with my son, and we enjoyed this one very much.
It takes a bit of a diversion with the 'D's' rather than any of the original Swallows and Amazons gang in it, and they join up with some of the local children as they learn to take a boat through the Norfolk Broads. My wife and daughter had already read this one and we had a brief trip last year on the Norfolk Broads to see the place they had been reading about.
The story takes off from one of the boys letting the boat a group of annoying out-of-town holidaymakers (who get termed the hullaballoos) drift off so as not to disturb a coot's nest. The D's and their Aunt, helped by groups of local children, then help shelter this boy by taking him up the Norfolk Broads as they learn the ropes. There is plenty of jeopardy as they try and avoid the hullaballoos, navigate the treacherous tides, and work out who they can trust and who they can't. There is also a fun cameo of heroism by the Aunt's pug dog William.
While it is a bit of a shame not to have any of the original characters, there is still a good combination of a whole new environment, strong characters, and scrapes that they get into along the way to keep the family entertained throughout.
It takes a bit of a diversion with the 'D's' rather than any of the original Swallows and Amazons gang in it, and they join up with some of the local children as they learn to take a boat through the Norfolk Broads. My wife and daughter had already read this one and we had a brief trip last year on the Norfolk Broads to see the place they had been reading about.
The story takes off from one of the boys letting the boat a group of annoying out-of-town holidaymakers (who get termed the hullaballoos) drift off so as not to disturb a coot's nest. The D's and their Aunt, helped by groups of local children, then help shelter this boy by taking him up the Norfolk Broads as they learn the ropes. There is plenty of jeopardy as they try and avoid the hullaballoos, navigate the treacherous tides, and work out who they can trust and who they can't. There is also a fun cameo of heroism by the Aunt's pug dog William.
While it is a bit of a shame not to have any of the original characters, there is still a good combination of a whole new environment, strong characters, and scrapes that they get into along the way to keep the family entertained throughout.
December 7, 2024
Almost too much going on in Coot Club, but it starts strongly (train coming into Norwich station — always a great place to begin anything!) and has a lot of fun child and adult characters drifting up and down the Broads, whose waterways and bridges and tidal patterns are more than a backdrop.
The important adults are either ‘salt of the marsh’ working class river folk, or slightly dotty/indulgent middle class folk (provincial, unpretentious professionals with kids who are being raised to be independent and really competent sailors), or troublesome hullabaloos (representing outsider new money, modern technology, and a concomitant carelessness about landscape and nature).
There are some proper working class kids in the story, too (bound to our middle-class protagonists by a shared love of place and fauna) who actually end up saving the day, despite their slightly less fancy equipment. No Swallows or Amazons in this one, but Dick and Dorothea getting a chance to learn more about watery practicalities from other kids should stand them in good stead for when they do return to the Lake District.
The important adults are either ‘salt of the marsh’ working class river folk, or slightly dotty/indulgent middle class folk (provincial, unpretentious professionals with kids who are being raised to be independent and really competent sailors), or troublesome hullabaloos (representing outsider new money, modern technology, and a concomitant carelessness about landscape and nature).
There are some proper working class kids in the story, too (bound to our middle-class protagonists by a shared love of place and fauna) who actually end up saving the day, despite their slightly less fancy equipment. No Swallows or Amazons in this one, but Dick and Dorothea getting a chance to learn more about watery practicalities from other kids should stand them in good stead for when they do return to the Lake District.
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