Strong Winds series allusion to Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series as well as other works, particularly R.L. Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha". Cassandra Jardine, reviewing for "The Daily Telegraph", wrote ""The Salt-Stained Book"... is not just a homage to the Swallows and Amazons stories. Donny and Anna, Jones's fictional characters, live in the contemporary world, escaping social workers, rather than pirates. There's far more emotion than in Ransome's books" but "they share the same confident, risk-taking spirit..." Amanda Craig, reviewing "The Salt-stained Book" for "The Times" "...wasn't sure about the historical framing device that gives the novel
Swallows and Amazons series of being as tough as Nancy, but often needs the encouragement of her sister to get through the more dangerous parts of their adventures. She is frightened of thunderstorms. A third major set of characters are brother and sister Dick and Dorothea Callum, introduced in the fourth book of the series, "Winter Holiday". Dick and Dorothea are the intellectuals of the group, Dick in matters of science, Dorothea in the arts. The Callums later acquire a dinghy of their own, the "Scarab". The Callums were originally seen as useless to the group, until it was realized that they had great