Peter Duck (Hardcover)

That aside, this is good adventure. The children assemble for a summer holiday sailing in the English Channel, and are joined by a crusty old seaman who's being pursued by some criminals, who know that he knows where a treasure is buried in the Caribbean. After some misadventures, the crew sets off across the Atlantic, along the way picking up a small boy who was part of the criminal's crew.

In the Caribbean, they encounter some eerie crabs and some harrowing scenes that are the aftermath of a volcanic explosion at some distance. The treasure is found and the villains are dispatched in a rather overly convenient deus ex machina ending that I rather disliked; it's the only reason I chopped a star off this otherwise grand entertainment.

This book has the usual S&A series messages about the joys of adventure and of being outdoors, and the importance of courage and self-reliance as well as teamwork. Next in the series: WINTER HOLIDAY.

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Re-reading the series as an adult, however, I see this in a whole new perspective. Simply put the actual story, and the story-telling, racks amongst the highest in the series. The scope of the book, running from the mouth of the broads which we come to love later in the series, right down to Crab Island in the Caribbean is wonderful. The intrigue and adventure is at a higher level to match too.

Arthur Ransome is one of the story tellers who believes in dealing with "bad people" head on - and in this tale, Black Jake and his crew are really some of the most despicable characters in children's literature. We always hope they will meet a sticky end. However, the writing is a little out of date now in terms of some derogatory words used for black people and Spaniards. I believe such language can be used as an important educational tool to explain why we no longer use these words (it should be noted that it is the rough characters that use these terms).

The book never comments on this as being "fictional". Of course they are all fictional tales, but this is fiction within fiction because we find out in other books that this was a tale made up by everyone. However, it is still written very realisitically and anyone with a love for sailing will find the chapters about the setup of the boat or the sailing down the North Sea and the English Channel wonderful.

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