Swallows and Amazons series

Swallows and Amazons

Detail from Missee Lee cover
Swallows and Amazons (1930) Swallowdale (1931) Peter Duck (1932) Winter Holiday (1933) Coot Club (1934) Pigeon Post (1936) We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea (1937) Secret Water (1939) The Big Six (1940) Missee Lee (1941) The Picts and the Martyrs (1943) Great Northern? (1947) Coots in the North (1988)
Author	Arthur Ransome
Illustrator	Steven Spurrier Clifford Webb
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Children's literature, Adventure fiction
Publisher	Jonathan Cape
Published	1930–1988
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback)
No. of books	12

The Swallows and Amazons series is a series of twelve children's adventure novels by English author Arthur Ransome. Set in the interwar period, the novels involve group adventures by children, mainly in the school holidays and mainly in England. They revolve around outdoor activities, especially sailing. Literary critic Peter Hunt believes it "changed British literature, affected a whole generation's view of holidays, helped to create the national image of the English Lake District and added Arthur Ransome's name to the select list of classic British children's authors."^[1] The series remains popular and inspires visits to the Lake District^[2] and Norfolk Broads, where many of the books are set.

There are several societies for studying and promoting Ransome's work, notably this series. The earliest was the Arthur Ransome Club in Japan. The British-based Arthur Ransome Society has an international membership.