Posted by Eric Abraham on October 25, 2002 at 13:22:32 from 199.240.138.94 user EricAbraham.
In Reply to: Thanks for that posted by David Shelton on October 25, 2002 at 10:45:22:
Great article. I think the sentiment expressed really sums up our feelings (at least mine) about the series. I read the entire series when I was eleven living in Enid, Oklahoma far away from water - just the city park with a tiny lake and rental aluminum row boats - I pretended that the old gent renting the boats was Peter Duck. The adventures, the children doing it on their own with the adults being mainly in the background as supporting cast made these stories really relevant to me. The stories didn't get me into sailing, per se, (I would have liked to, but the expense and time demanded by any type of boat made that activity totally prohibitive - my father didn't even have a car at that time) but opened up a whole new world of other possibilities. I still feel the same way.
I have just given "Swallows and Amazons" and "Swallowdale" to a friend here, and she is clamoring for the next two! Usually I don't do things like that, as most people are too much into the "really (almost deadly) serious" aspects of life; but we need to relieve ourselves of some of this seriousness just to maintain our own level playing field.
Thanks again for sharing the article in the Times!
EA