COOT CLUB (Swallows And Amazons, 5)

By Arthur Ransome

Book Overview

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?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0099427184
• ISBN13: 9780099427186
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: RED FOX BOOKS (RAND)
• Length: 406 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.9" x 5.1"
• Age Range: 4 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 7

Customer Reviews

Nice Lightweight Sailing Adventure

This is one of my favorites of the entire S & A series. It is one of the most sailing intensive books providing great details about sailing through tidal river regions. The Norfolk Broads region described is sort of a sailing paradise. Like all of these books, the adventure is very lightweight, and only really suitable for a child with some degree of patience. Part of the appeal is how realistic the books are. I think children enjoy reading stories in which child characters are doing so many fun things on their own with very minimal adult intervention. In my experience these books appeal most to children in the 9-11 age bracket. The book's theme of nature preservation and activism is one that also is fairly relevant even today.

Birds and Boating

Another great S & A classic, this time dealing with nature conservation. When Tom sets a noisy boat loose from its moorings in order to save a nest of Coot eggs, whose parents have been frightened off by the boat, he knows there will be trouble if the occupants catch sight of him, but not how much. A wonderful tale of boating on the Norfolk Broads with Ransome's usual blend of adventure and imagined adventure.