Parenting, then and now
This crisp and even cavalier telegram has a distant father allowing his four children to sail to an island in...
Mutton-headed galoots
Arthur Ransome's characters have some out of date but still appealing ways to describe their own, or others', stupidity. I...
Leadership as multi-tasking
You get to steer the ship because you can handle multiple tasks at once. Here, John demonstrates his leadership skills:...
Russian tales and legends
There is a dark-forested haunting element to the illustrations in this French rendition of Russian stories. They are part of...
Reed-fringed banks
An image of lazy summer afternoons messing about on rivers.
Source: Arthur Ransome, Coot Club (London: Jonathan Cape, 2009 (1934)),...
Tales from Australia and Oceania
This book cover and related illustrations are from a wonderful old French series of tales and stories from around the...
Marcel and me – memories of childhood
I grew up with Marcel. That is the French author Pagnol (1895-1974) was a part of our domestic library and...
A blank map
‘You’ll start with a blank map, that doesn’t do more than show roughly what’s water and what...
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