Read-Aloud Thursday: The Big Six by Arthur Ransome

I am getting this posted late. I have tried for the last two months to get this post finished and for some reason or other it never happens. Last month I am sure I started to write this post, but when I went looking for it, lo and behold, it was gone! I guess I must have written it in my mind and forgot to record it. Without further ado here it is:

 

Plunge into the Norfolk Broads as the D's join up with the Coot Club once again, this time to solve a very baffling crime. 'Why shouldn't we be detectives too?' 

When Dick and Dorothea arrive in the Norfolk Broads all set for a blissful summer on the river, they find their friends the Death and Glories in a very bad situation. Accused of setting boats adrift, sabotage and theft, the boys are under suspicion by everyone on the river. And in the meantime, the real culprits are still at large. There's no choice but to form a crime-busting team: The Big Six. As the evidence stacks against them, can they solve the mystery and trap the real criminals?

The Big Six by Arthur Ransome is the 9th book in the Swallows and Amazons Series. In The Big Six we meet up with all the characters from The Coot Club (review). I will admit that my kids have liked the books that feature the "Swallows and Amazons" better than "The D's" (Dick & Dorothea) though they did admit that The Coot Club ended up being a good story in the end. Ransome has a tendency to get off to a slow start in his books, but not so in The Big Six. This story caught my kids attention right away. They kept begging me to read for more to see when justice would finally be served, which took awhile!

As always Arthur Ransome does a fine job of making the story suspenseful with amateur detectives, sailing, and fishing, yet he keeps it loaded with a good deal of humor and keeps you laughing throughout. Another highly recommended book!

Other's we have read:

• Swallows and Amazons
• Swallowdale
• Peter Duck
• Winter Holiday
• Coot Club 
• Pigeon Post  
• We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea 
• Secret Water
• The Big Six
• Missee Lee

 See what others are reading aloud over at Hope is the Word.