Wednesday, November 12, 2014

My inspiration: Michelle Magorian on Arthur Ransome

The author of Goodnight Mister Tom and Impossible! explains why the Swallows and Amazons creator Arthur Ransome gave her an alternative childhood and the tools to escape, pulling her into a world where children coped (and camped!) on their own

Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome
Swallows And Amazons, by Arthur Ransome – the inspiration for Goodnight Mister Tom author Michelle Magorian. Photograph: Moviestore Collection/REX/Moviestore Collection/REX
Although I could read before I went to school and I won the school reading prize at five years old, my early children’s stories came from the radio and watching films at a cinema on Saturday mornings in Australia. It wasn’t until I was nine years old on a ship returning from Australia that I was introduced to children’s books. Being the oldest in the children’s area, I had been so lonely I climbed over the gate and ran away. When I was brought back, one of the women in charge took me over to a glass fronted cupboard filled with books, unlocked the door and handed me a Famous Five story by Enid Blyton. I read it in one night, and asked for another one the following day.

Fortunately when we arrived back in England our house was only a short walk away from a small library. One day, hunting for another of her books a librarian asked if he could be of any help. I explained that I had read all the Famous Five books and all the Adventure and Mystery series.
‘Have you read anything by Arthur Ransome?’ he asked me.

I returned home with Swallows and Amazons

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