Red Fox Older Fiction Series

There's a crime wave on the lake! All evidence points to three boatbuilders' sons. They claim to be innocent but, as accusations mount, their families' livelihood is threatened. It's up to the three boys, and three other members of the Coot Club Bird Protection Society, to solve the mystery and clear their name.

Joe, Bill, and Pete live to sail in the Norfolk Broads but now they are under suspicion of setting boats adrift and stealing from ship builders. When the Ds (Dorothea and Dick) arrive, hoping to enjoy a holiday with their friends of the Coot Club, it seems to them that a plot is afoot. Someone is trying to drive Joe, Bill, and Pete away in disgrace for crimes they didn't commit.

Friendship and resourcefulness, dangers and excitement: Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series has stood the test of time. More than just great stories, each one celebrates independence and initiative with a colorful, large cast of characters. The Big Six (originally published in 1940) is the ninth title in the Swallows and Amazons series, books for children or grownups, anyone captivated by a world of adventure, exploration, and imagination.

Midnight is a Place

by Joan Aiken

Published 1 January 1974

In northern England in 1842, fourteen-year-old Lucas leads a lonely, monotonous existence in the house of his unpleasant guardian until the unexpected arrival of an unusual little girl presages a series of events that completely change his life.

Great Northern?

by Arthur Ransome

Published 30 September 1971

Flat on his front, binoculars to his eyes, alone at dusk, Dick makes a remarkable discovery: two rare birds, never before seen in the British Isles. Captain Flint and his crew decide to consult an expert to confirm the discovery. But when the man they ask turns out to have his collector's eye on the birds' eggs, not to mention skins, an enjoyable voyage around the Outer Hebrides becomes a desperate race to save the birds, and themselves...

Magic of Reading

by Ruth Thomas, Arthur Ransome, and Joan Aiken

Published 6 August 1998

Coots in the North

by Arthur Ransome

Published 1 July 1993

While working on his book The Life of Arthur Ransome, Hugh Brogan chanced upon the unfinished script of a thirteenth 'Swallows and Amazons' story in Ransome's desk in the Abbot Hall Museum in Cumbria, where it had laid unknown except to a few. It had no title ('Coots in the North' is Brogan's invention) but there were a few preliminary drawings which Ransome might have included had this gem been brought to life in book form. Why he abandoned it is not known, for he left a clear outline of how he intended to go on once the young Coots - Joe, Bill and Pete - had completed their hair-raising journey as stowaways from Norfolk to the Lakes in the north. There, on a salvage mission, they encounter for the first time the intrepid Nancy Blackett. 'Coots in the North' is introduced by Brogan's lively account of how Arthur Ransome found fame and fortune through the Swallows and Amazons, and is accompanied in this collection by other delights which turned up among Ransome's papers in the Brotherton Library at Leeds University. An unfinished Victorian 'Bevis'-style novel yielded two superb stories, complete in themselves - 'The Cloudburst' and a fishing tale called 'The River Comes First'.
The Baltic sailing mysteries originally published in Pall Mall magazine in 1929. 'Two Shorts and a Long' and 'The Unofficial Side'; the Breton ghost story 'Ankou', which first appeared in English Review in 1914; and an eerie tale of old Russia called 'The Shepherd's Pipe' complete this testament to Ransome's storytelling genius, which should not be missed by enthusiasts young or old.

Swallows and Amazons for Ever

by Arthur Ransome

Published 8 December 1983