Posted by Peter Willis on March 21, 1999 at 11:47:53:
In Reply to: Re: "In the wake of the Teasel" posted by william tozer on March 18, 1999 at 04:30:01:
It's strange, the prevalence of this view that the non-Lakes books are somehow second-class citizens. I even feel dwawn toi it myself, despite the fact that my favourites are Coot Club and We Didn't.. (third is Winter Hol)
I put it down to a psychological, or instinctive belief that the requiremennts of a "proper" Swallows and Amazons" book must conform to the template of the original - i.e, contain Swallows and Amazons and be set in the Lakes.
Actually only four of the 12 meet these requirements. The main development of the series seems to get under way when the D's arrive, for much the reasons identified by Wiliam Tozer, above, namely that they start ignorant and have tho learn and become accepted. The trouble with the Walkers and Blacketts is that (WD apart) they seem to be too competent already (although they do rely to a remarkable extent on Dick, notably in PP). Some of us think the Ds are the real heroes of the series, although - to bring it back to the Broads, my own favourite is Tom Dudgeon, and I'm only sorry he gets put into the background in Big Six.