“Peter Pan” by J.M. Barrie

Fantastic, fantastic fantastic. I loved this book. I was so amazing. It was one of those books for me where I had to put the book down every chapter and run then run around the house and tell everyone what happened. Then as I am telling everyone I cannot believe that I do not remember the story of Peter Pan at all. I mean I didn’t know that Tinker Bell could be pure evil. And that is almost exactly how Barrie puts it. As ferries are so small that they do not have enough space in them to feel more than one emotion at a time. So Tinker Bell’s hatred for Wendy was just that, pure hatred; as she could not feel a mixture of hatred, jealousy, and a small bit of understanding. 

This story was also one of the saddest that I have ever read. I remembered the story of Peter Pan being one of fun and adventure. Nope. It was this horrible situation where Peter is terrified of having a family, but nevertheless he needs one anyway (as does everyone; an interesting philosophy presented by Barrie) and creates one, with Wendy as the mother and Peter as sometimes her son, and sometimes her husband as they both take care of the Lost Boys. Peter refuses to ever be apart of a “real” family but in secret the Lost Boys crave for a real home to live in, and a real mother to take care of them. 

Alongside this deep emotional struggle there is also the tale of grand adventure that takes place in Neverland. Barrie writes in a beautiful illustration when Peter arrives for the first time with Wendy, John and Michael where there is a perfect circle of the “lost boys looking for Peter, the pirates were out looking for the lost boys, the redskins were out looking for the pirates, and the beasts were out looking for the redskins. They were going round and round the island, but they did not meet because all were going at the same rate.” Pg 63-4 Amazing. What a way to introduce everyone on the island and give the idea of where the allegiance lies what their mission is.  The only character that does not complexly hold true to this illustration it that the Crocodile breaks away from the beasts, passes the redskins as he is on a mission looking for Hook, ticking the entire way. 

This is a must read. Obviously for several reasons. Read it!