sometimes the greatest things are the most embarrassing ellen degeneres winning upbeat candor has made her show one of the most popular resilient and honored daytime shows on the air to date it has won no fewer than 31 emmys seriously im kidding degeneres first book in eight years brings us up to date about the life of a kindhearted woman who bowed out of american idol because she didnt want to be mean lively hilarious often sweetly poignant the first title in arthur ransomes classic series originally published in 1930 for children for grownups for anyone captivated by the world of adventure and imagination swallows and amazons introduces the lovable walker family the camp on wild cat island the ablebodied catboat swallow and the two intrepid amazons nancy and peggy blackett