Matt Dickinson, our Guest Editor for January 2013 - 'As far as I can remember this was the book that turned me into a reading addict! I absolutely loved it, and to this day can remember the excitement of going to a bookshop in Hemel Hempstead High Street with my mother (aged about eleven) to find the next book in the series. The story is pure escapism—sailing on remote Lake District waters, lighting open fires, fishing for trout, skirmishes with ‘pirate enemies’ and campsites beneath the stars on tiny beaches. I never had a summer like that but I often think my love of the wilderness might have come (at least in part) from this skilfully told tale and the books that followed. Sadly, I never learned to sail a little boat. Or light a fire by rubbing sticks. But perhaps there’s still time . . .'
A favourite of Philip Pullman: "As clear and pure as Mozart."
