Pigeon Post by Arthur Ransome
Hating my computer because I tried to copy and paste my entry and accidentally obliterated it and there is NO undo button on my internet browser. I really do have to cut my losses and compose it all over again.
The sixth title in the Swallows and Amazons series sees the welcome return of all the original characters, who were absent in the previous novel, Coot Club. This novel abandons the usual sailing theme and is based on the American gold rush, with the main characters attempting to discover gold.
The title comes from the fact that the book also features the characters using homing pigeons to send messages back home, although this does feel secondary to the main plot before becoming vital to the plot near the end.
There is also a new adversary, known only as "Squashy Hat", who seems determined to get his hands on any gold that the children find, although throughout most of the book he merely appears in the distance as the children watch all his movements, and I suspected they would end up putting aside their differences.
Having all of the regular characters back was good as this meant more of my favourite character, Roger, the youngest, whose naivety usually causes him to come out with the best lines. He's a character who seems unappreciated by his older siblings, very noticeable in the first half of the book, before he really proves his worth. There was also an enjoyable underground adventure that made me think of King Solomon's Mines.
The only real problem I had with this book was that I know nothing about the process of panning for gold or charcoal burning, so when the kids were trying to (as I understand it) extract gold from rocks, I just had to accept this chemistry lesson the book was giving me, and there seemed to be a lot of this in the second half.
But the story did at least have a neat twist that amused me.
The sixth title in the Swallows and Amazons series sees the welcome return of all the original characters, who were absent in the previous novel, Coot Club. This novel abandons the usual sailing theme and is based on the American gold rush, with the main characters attempting to discover gold.
The title comes from the fact that the book also features the characters using homing pigeons to send messages back home, although this does feel secondary to the main plot before becoming vital to the plot near the end.
There is also a new adversary, known only as "Squashy Hat", who seems determined to get his hands on any gold that the children find, although throughout most of the book he merely appears in the distance as the children watch all his movements, and I suspected they would end up putting aside their differences.
Having all of the regular characters back was good as this meant more of my favourite character, Roger, the youngest, whose naivety usually causes him to come out with the best lines. He's a character who seems unappreciated by his older siblings, very noticeable in the first half of the book, before he really proves his worth. There was also an enjoyable underground adventure that made me think of King Solomon's Mines.
The only real problem I had with this book was that I know nothing about the process of panning for gold or charcoal burning, so when the kids were trying to (as I understand it) extract gold from rocks, I just had to accept this chemistry lesson the book was giving me, and there seemed to be a lot of this in the second half.
But the story did at least have a neat twist that amused me.