Books like 'Swallows and Amazons'
Readers who enjoyed Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical action / adventure 20th century mystery classics historical-fiction children friendship season-summer family
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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 63 ratingsLibrarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found hereIt is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow...Categorized as:
children classics family friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century 21st-century -
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsIn the summer of 1932, on the banks of Minnesota's Gilead River, the Lincoln Indian Training School is a pitiless place where Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to Odie O’Banion, a lively orphan boy whose exploits constantly earn him the superintendent’s wrath...Categorized as:
children classics family friendship historical-fiction outdoors realistic season-summer -
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s AmericaIn June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the work farm where he has just served a year for involuntary manslaughter... -
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 78 ratingsA newer cover edition of this title can be found here.He can’t leave his hotel. You won’t want to.From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility—a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel...Categorized as:
classics family friendship historical-fiction realistic season-summer 20th-century 21st-century -
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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 88 ratingsMarie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel...Categorized as:
classics family friendship historical-fiction realistic season-summer 20th-century 21st-century -
The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA novel you will never forget... This powerful and breathtaking novel is the story of four cadets who have become bloodbrothers. Together they will encounter the hell of hazing and the rabid, raunchy and dangerously secretive atmosphere of an arrogant and proud military institute. They will experience the violence. The passion. The rage. The friendship. The loyalty. The betrayal...Categorized as:
classics family friendship historical-fiction realistic sports 20th-century action-adventure -
To Treasure an Heiress by Roseanna M. White
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratings1906Beth Tremayne has always been drawn to adventure. During her childhood, she fed that desire by exploring every inch of the Isles of Scilly. Now, after stumbling across an old collection of letters and a map buried on her family's property, she's found more adventure than she ever anticipated in the hunt for pirate treasure...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction outlaws 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
Lieutenant Hornblower by C.S. Forester
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsIn this gripping tale of turmoil and triumph on the high seas, Horatio Hornblower emerges from his apprenticeship as midshipman to face new responsibilities thrust upon him by the fortunes of war between Napoleon and Spain...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction nautical season-summer 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
Centennial by James A. Michener
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 31 ratings"Michener is America's best writer, and he proves it once again in CENTENNIAL."THE PITTSBURGH PRESSA stunning panorama of the West, CENTENNIAL is an enthralling celebration of our country, brimming with the glory and the greatness of the American past that only bestselling author James Michener could bring to stunning life...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction outdoors 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsJo, Bessie and Fanny take their cousin Rick on an adventure he'll never forget to the magic Faraway Tree, where he meets Moon-Face, Silky the fairy and Saucepan Man, and visits all the different lands at the top of the Faraway Tree... -
Castelul fetei in alb by Constantin Chiriță
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLaura este o fată nou venită în orășel care vrea să se împrietenească cu renumiții Cireșari. Din păcate, bunica ei îi interzice acest lucru, așa că Laura pornește singură către Castelul celor două cruci. Ea ajunge la castel, dar este capturată și facută prizonieră acolo. Ea le trimite un bilet Cireșarilor care urmează un traseu foarte încâlcit...Categorized as:
classics children realistic fiction action-adventure young-adult children-books 20th-century -
Code of Honor by Alan Gratz
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLive by the code. Die by the code?Kamran Smith has it all. He’s the star of the football team, dates the most popular girl, and can’t wait to enlist in the army like his big brother, Darius. Although Kamran’s mother is from Iran, Kamran has always felt 100% American. Accepted.And then everything implodes.Darius is accused of being a terrorist. Kamran refuses to believe it...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction realistic sports teens 20th-century action-adventure -
The Little Ship: A heart-warming, sweeping wartime saga full of heart which will stay with you for ages by Margaret Mayhew
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSet largely on the Essex coast before the war, Matt, Guy, and their young cousin Lizzie meet up for holidays and bum around in an old boat. Guy is the eldest, handsome, skilled at everything, a tad selfish. Matt is quieter and has a crippled right arm... -
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 89 ratingsIn this beloved story, readers travel with Mary Lennox, a spoiled and sullen orphan, from colonial India to Misselthwaite Manor, a forbidding estate on the Yorkshire moors. There, in the unlikeliest of places, Mary discovers and helps restore an abandoned garden and, in the process, blossoms herself into a creature of loving kindness...Categorized as:
children classics family friendship historical-fiction outdoors realistic 20th-century -
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They Went Left by Monica Hesse
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsGermany, 1945. The soldiers who liberated the Gross-Rosen concentration camp said the war was over, but nothing feels over to eighteen-year-old Zofia Lederman. Her body has barely begun to heal; her mind feels broken...Categorized as:
children family friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century abuse action-adventure -
The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSeptember 1939.When Jimmy is evacuated to a small village in Wales, it couldn't be more different from London. Green, quiet and full of strangers, he instantly feels out of place.But then he finds a skull hidden in a tree, and suddenly the valley is more frightening than the war. Who can Jimmy trust? His brother is too little; his best friend has changed...Categorized as:
children family friendship historical-fiction outdoors 20th-century action-adventure book -
A Prince Without a Kingdom by Timothée de Fombelle
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThis was the only treasure that Vango was after: the secret of his life.Vango has been in danger for as long as he can remember. He has spent his life running along rooftops, fleeing to mysterious islands, and abandoning those he loves in order to protect them from the demons of his past. But Vango will not run for much longer...Categorized as:
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Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsSent in 1910 to live with distant relatives who own a rubber plantation along the Amazon River, English orphan Maia is excited. She believes she is in for brightly colored macaws, enormous butterflies, and "curtains of sweetly scented orchids trailing from the trees." Her British classmates warn her of man-eating alligators and wild, murderous Indians...Categorized as:
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Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsGrowing up in the shadows cast by two world wars, Annabelle has lived a mostly quiet, steady life in her small Pennsylvania town. Until the day new student Betty Glengarry walks into her class. Betty quickly reveals herself to be cruel and manipulative, and while her bullying seems isolated at first, things quickly escalate, and reclusive World War I veteran Toby becomes a target of her attacks...Categorized as:
children family friendship historical-fiction outdoors realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
Chesapeake by James A. Michener
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsOnce again James A. Michener brings history to life with this 400-year saga of America's great bay and its Eastern Shore. Following Edmund Steed and his remarkable family, who parallel the settling and forming of the nation, CHESAPEAKE sweeps readers from the unspoiled world of the Native Americans to the voyages of Captain John Smith, the Revolutionary War, and right up to modern times...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction outdoors 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA novel tells the story of a man who leads an ordinary, uneventful life, until overnight he becomes the trustee of his 10-year-old niece, and involved in the search for some missing money...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction nautical 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Letters from the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWe weren't supposed to be going to the pictures that night. We weren't even meant to be outside, not in a blackout, and definitely not when German bombs had been falling on London all month like pennies from a jar. February, 1941. After months of bombing raids in London, twelve-year-old Olive Bradshaw and her little brother Cliff are evacuated to the Devon coast...Categorized as:
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The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald, Mercer Mayer
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe best con man in the Midwest is only ten years old. Tom, a.k.a., the Great Brain, is a silver-tongued genius with a knack for turning a profit. When the Jenkins boys get lost in Skeleton Cave, the Great Brain saves the day...Categorized as:
children classics family friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
Sharpe's Rifles by Bernard Cornwell, Frederick Davidson
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsWhen Sharpe rises from the ranks to take command, he finds himself with an unexpected ally in the war against Napoleon.It's 1809, and the powerful French juggernaut is sweeping across Spain. Lieutenant Richard Sharpe is newly in command of the demoralized, distrustful men of the Ninety-fifth Rifles...Categorized as:
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The Velvet Room by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRobin was always wandering off (her mother's words) to get away from the confusion she felt inside her. It was not until Robin's father found a permanent job at the McCurdy ranch, after three years as a migrant worker, that Robin had a place to wander to...Categorized as:
children classics family historical-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure book -
Pigeon Post by Arthur Ransome
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Swallows, Amazons, and friends search for gold in the Lake District Hills—camping out, evading dangers, and staying in touch via homing pigeon.Nancy and Peggy Blackett receive a letter from their Uncle Jim who's on his way home after failing to find treasure in South America...Categorized as:
children classics historical-fiction nautical season-summer 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
Run Silent Run Deep by Edward L. Beach
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCommander Edward Richardson and his exec, Jim Bledsoe, are bound together by wartime duty, divided by jealousy, pride and love for one beautiful woman. Their home is the USS Walrus, part of the "silent service" engaged in a crucial drive to destroy the Japanese navy in the dark days of WW II...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction nautical 20th-century action-adventure adult book fiction -
Alone on a Wide Wide Sea by Michael Morpurgo
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThere were dozens of us on the ship, all ages, boys and girls, and we were all up on deck for the leaving of Liverpool, gulls wheeling and crying over our heads, calling good-bye, I thought they were waving good-bye. None of us spoke. It was a grey day with drizzle in the air, the great sad cranes bowing to the ship from the docks as we steamed past...Categorized as:
children classics family friendship historical-fiction outdoors 20th-century action-adventure -
The Box-Car Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsThe Boxcar Children is a children's literary franchise originally created and written by American writer and first-grade school teacher,[1] Gertrude Chandler Warner. Today, the series includes well over 100 titles. The series is aimed at readers in grades 2-6...Categorized as:
children classics family friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen Michael is washed up on an island in the Pacific after falling from his parent's yacht, the Peggy Sue, he struggles to survive on his own. But he soon realises there is someone close by, someone who is watching over him and helping him to stay alive... -
As the Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsGrowing up in the slums of East End London, Charlie Trumper dreams of someday running his grandfather's fruit and vegetable barrow. That day comes suddenly when his grandfather dies leaving him the floundering business. With the help of Becky Salmon, an enterprising young woman, Charlie sets out to make a name for himself as "The Honest Trader"...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Il giardino delle nebbie notturne by Tan Twan Eng
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsMalaya, 1949. After studying law at Cambrige and time spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals, Yun Ling Teoh seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya where she grew up as a child...Categorized as:
classics family friendship historical-fiction outdoors 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure -
The Changeling by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIvy Carson belonged to the notorious Carson family, which lived in a run-down house in suburban Rosewood. But Ivy was not a typical Carson. There was something wonderful about her. Ivy explained it by saying that she was a changeling, a child of supernatural parents who had been exchanged for the real Ivy Carson at birth. This classic book was first published in 1970... -
Knight's Cross by Christine Kling
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsShipwreck hunters Maggie Riley and Cole Thatcher are no strangers to the mysteries hidden beneath the seas. They’ve uncovered artifacts with secrets that powerful interests would do anything to control—and they’re about to do it again. As the newly engaged couple prepares to set sail, Cole suspects they are being followed...Categorized as:
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Summit by Harry Farthing
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA summit is a summit, and the truth is the truth. But the view from 8,848 meters isn't always so clear. Two men, seventy years apart, push for the top of Mount Everest, driven by forces beyond their control and something inside that says climb. After eight successful summits, Mount Everest guide Neil Quinn is confident he can handle anything the mountain throws his way...Categorized as:
historical-fiction outdoors sports 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
Linnets and Valerians by Elizabeth Goudge
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe four Linnet children: Nan, Robert, Timothy and Betsy are sent to live with their strict grandmother while their father travels to Egypt. Locked away in separate rooms as punishment by their ruthless grandmother, the Linnets feel at once that their new life is unbearable—and decide to make their escape—out of the house, out of the garden and into the village...Categorized as:
children classics family historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure animals book -
Our Castle by the Sea by Lucy Strange
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratings* "A plot summary can only hint at the satisfaction of reading this tightly interwoven story with its haunting setting and memorable characters." -Booklist (starred review)In this haunting and compelling follow-up to the instant classic The Secret of Nightingale Wood. Lucy Strange takes a seafaring myth and grounds it in the stark reality of World War II...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction nautical realistic 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
The Boxcar Children Beginning: The Aldens of Fair Meadow Farm by Patricia MacLachlan
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBefore they were the Boxcar Children, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden lived with their parents at Fair Meadow Farm. Although times are hard, the Aldens are happy--"the best family of all," Mama likes to say. One day, a blizzard hits the countryside, and a car is stranded on the road near their farm...Categorized as:
historical-fiction realistic children family children-books fiction middle-grade audiobook -
Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSummer has a magic all its own.When Portia sets out for a visit with her cousin Julian, she expects fun and adventure, but of the usual kind: exploring in the woods near Julian's house, collecting stones and bugs, playing games throughout the long, lazy days.But this summer is different...Categorized as:
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Mollie Peer: or, The Underground Adventure of the Moosepath League by Van Reid
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the second hilarious adventure of the Moosepath League, Mollie Peer, the feisty society columnist for the Eastern Argus, follows up on a lead she hopes will win her that elusive promotion to reporter... -
Time at the Top by Edward Ormondroyd
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIt's strange enough when Susan Shaw disappears without a trace on a wintry March afternoon. It's stranger still when her uninformative note is found in the hallway of her apartment building, along with a black cat that no one has seen before...Categorized as:
children classics historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure book children-books fiction -
The Boy Next Door by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAmazon store this book for us, then pick, pack and deliver as well as provide 1st Class customer service. Books Found Fast via Amazon. -
The Big Six by Arthur Ransome
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThere'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...Categorized as:
children classics historical-fiction realistic sports 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
Nightbirds on Nantucket by Joan Aiken
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHaving had enough of life on board the ship that saved her from a watery grave, Dido Twite wants nothing more than to sail home to England. Instead, Captain Casket's ship lands in Nantucket, where Dido and the captain's daughter, Dutiful Penitence, are left in the care of Dutiful's sinister Aunt Tribulation. In Tribulation's farmhouse, life is unbearable... -
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Roata Norocului by Constantin Chiriță
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEste vacanta de vara si, la invitatia Ioanei, verisoara lui Dan, acesta, Tic si Maria vin in orasul "D". Acesta este foarte renumit pentru balciul care se tine acolo, o data pe an.Ei se incurca intr-un nou mister cand de la muzeu dispar niste statui foarte valoroase numite „tanagrale”. Victor,Ionel,Lucia si Ursu li se alatura si ciresarii pornesc impreuna sa rezolve secretul rotii norocului...Categorized as:
classics children realistic fiction action-adventure children-books young-adult mystery -
Stolen Girl by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNadia is haunted by World War II. Her memories of the war are messy, coming back to her in pieces and flashes she can't control. Though her adoptive mother says they are safe now, Nadia's flashbacks keep coming.Sometimes she remembers running, hunger, and isolation...Categorized as:
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Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAt the end of World War II, Jack Baker, a landlocked Kansas boy, is suddenly uprooted after his mother’s death and placed in a boy’s boarding school in Maine. There, Jack encounters Early Auden, the strangest of boys, who reads the number pi as a story and collects clippings about the sightings of a great black bear in the nearby mountains...Categorized as:
children family friendship historical-fiction outdoors realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWicked wolves and a grim governess threaten Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia when Bonnie's parents leave Willoughby Chase for a sea voyage. Left in the care of the cruel Miss Slighcarp, the girls can hardly believe what is happening to their once happy home. The servants are dismissed, the furniture is sold, and Bonnie and Sylvia are sent to a prison-like orphan school...Categorized as:
children classics family friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe summer of 1963 begins like any other for nine-year-old Starla Claudelle. Born to teenage parents in Mississippi, Starla is being raised by a strict paternal grandmother, Mamie, whose worst fear is that Starla will turn out like her mother...Categorized as:
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Homer Price by Robert McCloskey
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsWelcome to Centerburg! Where you can win a hundred dollars by eating all the doughnuts you want; where houses are built in a day; and where a boy named Homer Price can foil four slick bandits using nothing but his wits and pet skunk...Categorized as:
children classics family friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure
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