April Books 6) Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome
"Her real name isn't Nancy," said Peggy. "Her name is Ruth, but Uncle Jim said that Amazons were ruthless, and as our ship is the Amazon, and we are Amazon pirates from the Amazon River, we had to change her name."
This came top of my non-genre poll in December, and I had been looking forward to reading it (on reflection I think I probably did read it before as a child). It is good wholesome stuff: four kids go camping on an island in the lake where they are on holiday, and make friends with two sisters and their grumpy uncle. All potential problems are dealt with in a civilised manner, accepting the good faith and good intentions of the other side. Adult supervision is minimal but effective. 1930 was a very different time, but it's still a very charming book.
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