Margot Pardoe supervision; as in Arthur Ransome's "Swallows and Amazons series", these often take place in a rural setting. However, there are some differences which set Pardoe's books, and the "Bunkle" series in particular, apart. The children do not live in a vacuum; unlike Blyton's St Clare's series, World War II is mentioned (with the associated inconveniences of rationing and black-out), and the children also age. Bunkle is ten when the first book starts and ages gradually until the last but one volume, before returning to his original age in the last adventure which is hard to find owing to a short
Swallows and Amazons series with "Swallows and Amazons", published in 1930. It tells the story of the Walker children, who sail a dinghy named "Swallow", and the Blackett children, who sail a dinghy named "Amazon". The Walkers are staying at a farm near a lake during the school holidays; the Blacketts live in a house on the opposite shore. The Walkers consider themselves explorers, while the Blacketts declare themselves to be pirates. The children meet on an island in the lake, and have a series of adventures that weave imaginative tales of pirates and exploration into everyday life in inter-war rural England. In subsequent