Swallows and Amazons

One summer, John, Susan, Titty and Roger Walker spend their holiday at a farm beside a lake in England's Lake District. They sail a borrowed dinghy called Swallow and camp on an island, and they meet Nancy and Peggy Blackett, who sail the Amazon. Arthur Ransome's 1930 novel opens his twelve-book series, and its inspiration was a summer Ransome spent showing the Altounyan children, offspring of his friends, how to sail; three of their names went into the book. In 2003 it ranked 57th in the BBC's Big Read survey.

Richard Branson chose it for his top 65 lifetime reads, a list he drew up for World Book Day.