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Title: The Picts & the Martyrs: Or Not Welcome at All (Godine Storyteller)
ISBN: 1567922287
Author:
Arthur Ransome
Publicate Date: 2003-04-01
Publish: 2003-04-01
List Price: $14.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $7.50
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $5.95
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.17
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| Customer Review: |
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1: A jaunty and amusing tale
This story gives us the D's and the Amazons together in their own tale.
Dick and Dot Callum have come to the Blackett home, to stay with their friends Nancy and Peggy, aka the Amazons. Things are a little odd; Mrs. Blackett is away on a Scandinavian cruise (recovering from a bad bout of the flu) and her brother Jim (nicknamed "Captain Flint" by the kids) is with her. The children are to be watched over by the household servants and Jim's friend and business partner Timothy (surely not a situation to be condoned today!). But the Blackett's great-aunt, whom series fans will remember from previous volumes, gets wind of the mother's absence and is quickly on her way to oversee things.
This is simply unacceptable! The children look for a solution, and finally find one worthy of an "I Love Lucy" episode: until the Great-Aunt leaves and Mrs. Blackett returns, the D's will hide out in a nearby abandoned hut, still in good shape, and the Amazons will have to act like proper little ladies until Mother returns.
Quite a bit is spent on the D's learning to cope for themselves, with the help of a local farm boy. The D's are more intellectual than physical (Dick is an analytical naturalist, Dot is a dreamy would-be novelist), but they quickly learn to deal with life in the wild. But when they have to get some of Jim's chemical equipment from the house, and then the Great-Aunt disappears, things start getting out of hand....
This is an amusing tale, perhaps one of the more comic of the series. This one brings back the infamous Great-Aunt, an ogre of previous novels, but this time Ransome treats her with more depth and compassion. Instead of simply being an ill-tempered fussy brute, we see her as a woman shaped by her times and circumstances, trying to do what she thinks is right and do well by her family. As a reader, I certainly can't blame her for wanting to be sure the children were propery watched over, although I could emphasize with the kids' desire to have their usual freedom back.
As always, all ends well, and the reader is left with a sense of a growing understanding between the Great-Aunt and the Amazons, and some mutual respect.
As always, the feel of rural England in the 30s is part of the fun of the novel, and the adventures of the D's as they grow in self-confidence and self-reliance, handling their own boat and cooking their own meals.
Coming up next: A last hurrah for the gang in GREAT NORTHERN?
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2: Possibly my favorite of the series
When Dick and Dot arrive in the lake country they are expecting a pleasant visit with friends while learning how to sail their very own boat. But things never work out as planned, especially when Nancy has a hand in things -- first thing anyone knows she has Dick and Dot living in hiding from "the Great Aunt" and everybody else reluctantly in on the secret that must not be found out.
This is a charming book telling of a simpler time, yet it manages to be adventurous and exciting, too. Perfect for all ages, even my 4 year old enjoys listening to these novels.
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3: Perhaps my favorite in the series
It's hard to pick a favorite -- all the Swallows and Amazon books are good, and I'm sure everybody has their own favorite -- but I particularly like the character of the Great Aunt in this book. She is so...PROPER and so...INTIMIDATING, and the interactions the other characters have with her make for a good story. There is plenty of intrigue, plenty of almost-crisis, plenty of devious scheming by Nancy & crew to subvert the tyranny of the Great Aunt so they can achieve their own goals.
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