Peter Pan

Written by J. M. Barrie

Narrated by Donal Donnelly

Critically-acclaimed narrator Donal Donnelly breathes magical new life into this classic of fantasy literature. Listeners may be surprised to discover that J.M. Barrie's imaginative masterpiece is funnier, smarter, and more involving than the animated motion picture by Walt Disney! One starry night, Peter Pan and Tinker Bell lead the three Darling children over the rooftops of London and away to Neverland--the island where lost boys play, mermaids splash and fairies make mischief. But a villainous-looking gang of pirates lurk in the docks, led by the terrifying Captain James Hook. Magic and excitement are in the air, but if Captain Hook has his way, before long, someone will be walking the plank and swimming with the crocodiles...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 10, 2008
• ISBN: 9781440798177

J. M. Barrie

J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright. Born in Kirriemuir, Barrie was raised in a strict Calvinist family. At the age of six, he lost his brother David to an ice-skating accident, a tragedy which left his family devastated and led to a strengthening in Barrie’s relationship with his mother. At school, he developed a passion for reading and acting, forming a drama club with his friends in Glasgow. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, he found work as a journalist for the Nottingham Journal while writing the stories that would become his first novels. The Little White Bird (1902), a blend of fairytale fiction and social commentary, was his first novel to feature the beloved character Peter Pan, who would take the lead in his 1904 play Peter Pan; or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up, later adapted for a 1911 novel and immortalized in the 1953 Disney animated film. A friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, George Bernard Shaw, and H. G. Wells, Barrie is known for his relationship with the Llewelyn Davies family, whose young boys were the inspiration for his stories of Peter Pan’s adventures with Wendy, Tinker Bell, and the Lost Boys on the island of Neverland.

Reviews for Peter Pan

[jjjackson-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Peter Pan As a boy I always wished to be Peter Pan. I never wanted to grow up to be an adult. I wanted to remain a child having not a care in the world. As time evolved I grew up and before I knew it I was not a child. Troubles of the world concerned me. As a child I had many memories of pretending to be Peter Pan. I use to watch all the Peter Pan movies and read all the children books. I've read Peter Pan many times. This is easily one of my favorite books and its truly for all ages. It not only has an outstanding story but brings back child hood memories and brings a special feeling to all of its readers. There are very few books that have caught my attention like this book. I would highly recommend this wonderful book to all and everyone.

[kristymk18-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have loved the movies of Peter Pan for years, but had never read it. I knew I would enjoy Barrie's novel; I just wasn't sure if I'd like it more than the adaptations. And, as usual, I felt the original was the best out of all. It is told by a narrator who sometimes interjects his thoughts or references the reader, yet does not interact with the characters in the novel (think of Scrooge and the ghosts of time who peak into, but cannot disturb, the scenes playing out). Peter Pan is not all full of childhood wonderment and fairy tales, there is a darkness to it as well. Peter kills the Lost Boys when they grow to old or when they disobey him and all characters in Neverland hunt and slain each other, sometimes for sport. Peter himself can be extremely self-indulgent and brash, yet all children look to him as leader and follow him regardless. I believe this portrayal added to the wonderful dimensions of Peter Pan and life on Neverland. I think the longing to never grow up, to experience adventure and to live within a wild dream, is something all children (and many adults) experience, and Peter Pan allows a glimpse into what that may look like.

[revslick_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

reminding me once again what it means to be a child - innocent, imaginative, and vile all rolled into one. It also confirmed why the ending to Hook is probably the most tragic ending to a movie EVER.

[benkaboo-51322 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Summary: Short punchy adventure story for kids and adults who want to remember what it was like to be a kid.

Things I liked:

* Perspective: I really loved the way he was able to really nail the way some kids look at the world (or at least it reminded me of how I used to see the world when I was a kid).

* The narrators voice. The charming English professor style reminded me of books like Narnia and The Once and Future King.

* The dark undertones: I definitely felt the author trying to share a few things outside of a kids adventure story, it made me glad to be reading a book versus watching a movie.


Things I didn't like:

* The perspective changed quite a bit quite quickly (made it a little hard to follow sometimes).

* Some of the characters felt a little boxed up. You got given a character portrait versus the opportunity to find out about the character from their words and actions (made it a little bit more like a comic book or a fairy tale then a novel.

Highlight: The end with Wendy and her daughter. The cumulation of the novel made me sad and happy. I think sticking to the character of Pan versus taking the easy option of having everyone live happily ever after was bold and effective choice. I loved the bitter-sweet feeling it left me with. . I remember about two pages into the book I had a great tingly feeling that made me already glad I was reading a book versus watching a disney movie.

[elizabethchapman · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What a bizarre and surprising little book! As did many people, I grew up on Disney’s Peter Pan, so reading Barrie’s original at the age of 48 was quite the shock. Peter is cocky, heartless, tragic, and rather fiendish (Barrie’s words, not mine), vaguely malevolent as well as irresistibly charismatic. Tinker Bell is stout and inclined to call people “silly asses,” and Captain Hook is obsessed with the traditions of his public school (private school in the U.S.). This ain’t Walt’s Neverland.It is a meditation on childhood and the meaning of leaving it behind. As well as the inevitability of death and the realization (both disturbing and reassuring) that there will always be another generation to take our place.The opening passage sets the stage: “All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, ‘Oh, why can’t you remain like this for ever!’ This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.” Ironically, you must be adult to appreciate the best moments of Peter Pan for its not until you’ve passed through childhood that you can understand all that “Two is the beginning of the end” entails.

[slightlyfan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

No wonder this book is a classic. It is a brilliant story about a boy who never grew up.It is a tiny bit hard to read and a little confusing at parts, but if you read it through you will be glad you did.

[fotenosfamily · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Peter Pan is about fighting and he lives in Neverland and he doesn't want to grow up. What does he do? He saves people, and he also fights people.Captain Hook is the captain of the pirate ship. Captain Hook is mean and scared sometimes. That's all I'm going to say about him.I want to talk about Wendy. She's nice. She's kind. And she also cries a lot. I want to talk about Tink now. Tink is very grumpy. She doesn't like Wendy, and she thinks she's better than everyone. The redskins, we don't talk much about them in the book. The redskins talk funny. And the redskins walk funny, and that's all I'm going to say about the redskins. Here's what I like about Peter Pan: I liked the part Mr. Darling sat in the dog house, and I also liked when Peter said, "No, no, I'll never grow up!." Here's another thing that I liked: when Captain Hook fell into the water.Here's what I didn't like: I didn't like the part where Tink and Peter Pan shut the windows so Wendy couldn't come back. by Naomi Fotenos (~age 5)

[mephistia · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another one I read as a teen. And I've always gone for this very specific edition, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, because it was the first copy I found.

Of course, Peter Pan is magical in and of itself, but I will fully admit that the Disney version of Peter Pan had somewhat soured me on certain aspects . . . Tinkerbell, for instance. And a little bit on Tiger Lily.

So I finally pick up the actual book (and we all know the book is always, always better than the movie), and it's fantastic. Fabulous. But in addition to how completely awesome the book is?

This is Hyman's Tiger Lily.

And all of her art is full of that sort of detail and energy, that pulse of wild beauty. It's incredible. She captures the mischievousness, the cruelty, the edginess of Neverland. This is a land of disorder, of pirates and Indians and wild children.

This is not Disney's sing-along happy place, this is a land where scavenging, hungry boys fight like wild dogs with vicious pirates, but mermaids sing in lagoons and faeries skip through trees, laughing. Neverland is a magical, treacherous place -- and it's captured in Hyman's drawings and in Barrie's words in a way that Disney could never even hint at.

[blt012 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

teaches about going on an adventure. Students would love this book because it keeps going and going, never a dull moment.

[aliceap-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Let's talk about Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. I couldn't believe that up until this year I had never read this book. I knew the story, of course, but I had never actually read it. I remedied that and I am so glad that I did. Also, I'm glad that the version that I picked up included a biography of Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies family. I always think it's interesting to read about the history behind the writing of a book and how that shaped the characters, storyline, etc. For those unaware, Peter Pan is the story of a little boy who doesn't want to grow into a man. He's acquired a sort of mythology over the years and serves as an emblem for all that is carefree imagination. However, there is a darker side to the story. He's unable to truly feel and his memory is so poor that he is likely to forget you from one moment to the next. It's chilling if you examine it too closely. The illustrations in the edition which I have are stunning and really lent to the overall feel of the story. (I recommend that when purchasing any book with illustrations that you examine them closely because crappy illustrations can seriously dampen the effect of a good book.) When talking film adaptations, I was torn between the animated Disney version and the live action film with Jason Isaacs and Jeremy Sumter. I like them both for a variety of reasons. The Disney version is pure nostalgia for me. I find myself humming 'following the leader' more often that I care to admit. The live action is visually striking and shows the vulnerable side of Peter which I think is important. I think it says something about the versatility and logevity of a book if it's continually being adapted to film and the stage. I highly recommend you read this children's classic if you get an opportunity.

[iamchrysanthemum · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I adore books full of whimsy and charming turns of phrase on every page, so for the most part, I greatly enjoyed Peter Pan. I think the book hooked me when Barrie explained Neverland as an imaginary map visible to children until adult landmarks gradually overlap the map, leaving Neverland and its wonders forgotten. It’s such a beautiful cartographic metaphor for childhood, and from that point on, I was invested in Barrie’s ruminations on growing up and what children need (basically, they need moms), despite some boring parts and sexist qualms.

As for the low points, and I recall this same criticism from my Disney watching days, the time spent in Neverland is not entertaining. I prefer the beginning and end, when the children are plotting their escape to and from Neverland, to the lagging doldrums in the middle of the book when the children are living in Neverland.

I was also immensely annoyed by the book’s sexism. I understand that a major theme of the book is the necessity of mothers for young children, but because of this theme, to be a woman in Peter Pan, you must be either A) maternal B) desirous of male companionship (and thus jealous of other women). A combination of A and B is probably preferable (Wendy, who both mothers the Lost Boys and serves as a (chaste) female companion for Peter, is the closest to being an ideal woman).

The book wears its sexism quite freely. The reason Wendy goes to Neverland is because she “tempts” Peter with her knowledge of bedtime stories. Oh, and the Lost Boys need their pockets darned. Later, Wendy only returns to Neverland to do Peter’s spring cleaning. It saddens me that only the little boys are depicted as having careless fun. Wendy’s brothers get to kill pirates and parade around the island, but Wendy is always a mother, always a caretaker. The other main female character is Tinkerbell, who is mute and terribly envious of Peter’s attention to Wendy. Also off-putting is the initial description of Tinkerbell as “a girl exquisitely gowned in a skeleton leaf, cut low and square, through which her figure could be seen to the best advantage.” Why do we need to see a tiny young girl’s body sexualized??? It’s disturbing how sexist this book is, but it seems to be largely ignored since it’s a children’s classic.

I found it interesting that Peter, the eponymous character, is a horrible, selfish, obnoxious, cocky brat. Although he is the supposed hero of the story, Peter is described as domineering and heartless, as all young children often are. Wendy manages to overcome her sexist role and, in my opinion, is the real hero of the book. I wish the book still bore its original title, Peter and Wendy, because that more accurately represents the true protagonist and somewhat ameliorates the sexism.

Yet, I still rated this book 4 stars in spite of those many caveats due to the final chapter, “When Wendy Grew Up,” which absolutely completes the book. The chapter is a tour de force on the bittersweet occurrences of growing up, yet it was absent in the original Peter Pan play. I’m glad it was added to the published novel because juxtaposing how Wendy grows up and is actually quite happy about it though occasionally nostalgic for Neverland, next to the immutable, everlasting boyhood of Peter, who will always be alone, is incredibly moving. Books concerned with growing up often depict the loss of childhood as the great loss of every individual’s life, the moment when we lose ourselves to a life of interminable monotony. But Barrie, in a children’s book no less, pioneers a different theme. In Peter Pan, he essentially shows us that we do not want to be like Peter Pan. For all the charms of childhood, adulthood is an equally exciting stage; perhaps there are no pirates or mermaids, but there are plenty of other adventures. We must simply grow up to discover them.

[laurochka-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A children's classic I couldn't believe I'd never read! This Peter is a much darker and more sinister version than my perceptions from popular culture but this gives the original story a different dimension. I very much enjoyed it in a melancholy kind of way.

[David N Katy Bertucci · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a GREAT reading of a GREAT book! I loved it as much as my kids :)

[sadiesforsythe · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ok, I realise Peter Pan was written in the early 1900s, a time not known as a paragon of gender equality. I also realise that a certain amount of leeway has to be allowed to literature as a product of its time. Even with these concessions, however, I still have to say Peter Pan is probably one of the most sexist books I have ever read. Seriously, every single man in the book is indistinguishable from a child. The adults males whinge like children and the boys have strange adult-like moments, despite their apparent youth. Giving all of them childlike feel. I'm not even entirely sure that the adults of Neverland weren't just children pretending to be grownups. Females only seem to have one role and it is a muddled mix of mother/wife. They are also apparently entirely replaceable. One doesn't need their mother/wife, just a mother/wife...who of course has no joy in life beyond caring for the boy/men in their lives.

The introduction to this version mentioned that when Barrie wrote the original play he wasn't sure what audience it was intended for, adult or child. I can see that. Certainly the Disney version is firmly geared toward children. The book? I'm not so sure. Being the collective imaginings of sleeping children there is no sense of morality in Neverland. The lost boys are a murderous lot, as are the pirates and the red skins. They all hunt each-other in a circular nature that rarely branches out from the established prejudices of their ilk. The body count is surprisingly high. The fairies are capable of only a single emotion at a time and it rarely seems to be unadulterated joy. Tinker Bell spends most of the book in a jealous huff because Wendy has usurped her place as mother/wife and another group of them comes traipsing home after a midnight orgy at one point.

I liked the narrative style. The woodcut-style pictures in this version were a nice addition (and honestly the only reason I didn't visualise all of the boys as older than they were supposed to be and all of the pirates and red skins as younger than intended). I'm thrilled to have read it, as it's a classic, but I don't think I'll be reading it to my children anytime soon.

[melopher_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I don't typically enjoy fantasy literature, which may explain why I didn't love Peter Pan. The story is a familiar one, because of all the attention it has received on the stage and in film, but there is another element added in reading the book. It is much darker and more depressing, and left me feeling dissatisfied. It seemed to me that this stemmed more from the author's internal issues than it did from the author's creative device. The writing style is interesting, though occasionally confusing, as it seems as if you are eavesdropping on a storyteller weaving a tale to a small, young audience. Reading this was an interesting experience, one that I will probably not repeat or supply for my children. We'll stick to the movies, as they provide the story without the darkness.

[cyderry · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

How wonderful it was to see for once that a book has been translated to film so beautifully! As a child, I saw Peter Pan the animated film, the TV version as well and I was delighted to see that when I finally read the book that no one was left out and that the plot and stories were fully there.We all as we grow older wish that we could at times return to our childhood, and in way, with Peter Pan we can.

[angelarenea-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've always loved the story of Peter Pan and finally got around to reading the book. I think that it brought out the character of Peter more than I was used to and I really enjoyed that.

[scatterall-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is barely a children's book. I can see why few children read it. The adaptations are a lot more child-friendly, the book has a very high vocabulary and is downright creepy in many places, in a very Freudian way. That said, I'd recommend it to any adult looking for some light reading. Or who thinks Tinkerbell is charming.

[librisissimo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Substance: Peter Pan is not so charming in this book, with a disturbing psychological neurosis driving his refusal to grow up. Barrie's cynical interpolations in the novel version of his play give it a much darker and meaner aspect. Not a book I would give to children. A subversive fairy tale in the sense used by Jack Zipes about the 17th-18thc. French literary tales.Style: Deceptively borrows the style of Victorian children's literature, with snide asides to keep adults sniggering. See Hilaire Beloc's "Matilda Who Told LIes and Was Burned to Death" and P.L. Travers' "Mary Poppins" series.

[atimco-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I can't believe that I had never read Peter Pan until now. It's one of those tales you grow up knowing — we had the Disney cartoon just about memorized — but somehow the original story and I never crossed paths. Oh, what I've been missing! I picked it up on a whim last night and was quickly enthralled with J. M. Barrie's iconic characters and their madcap adventures in Neverland. If you, like me, have relied on retellings and adaptations for your knowledge of Pan, you must remedy this at once. The original story is well worth reading.Barrie's nostalgia for childhood is evident but never cloying, because he understands its brutality as well as its sweetness. Children are very selfish beings, but the difference between them and us is that they don't know it yet. Growing up is a bit of a tragedy because that is when you find it out. But outside of Neverland, it's inevitable. It's sad at the end that "the bearded man who doesn't know any story to tell his children was once John." Sometimes Barrie's style verges on the heartlessness he sees in children, as when he writes that "Mrs. Darling was now dead and forgotten." No false sentimentality here! Roald Dahl has the same touch in his books for children.This is what has made Peter Pan immortal, I think: Barrie gives him the same edge. He is "gay and innocent and heartless," and throughout the story Barrie is always reminding us how Peter sees things differently. He has no pity for Tiger Lily when she is about to be drowned; what angers Peter is that it was two against one. It's his indefatigable sense of fair play. Peter forgets people after he kills them (oh yes, people are killed in Neverland and sometimes you "stumble over the body"); he doesn't even remember Captain Hook a few years later, or Tinker Bell after she dies. He has no pity on his Lost Boys when they displease him, and he is not always honest or dependable. He is the most conceited boy there ever was — and the most charming. Given all this, it's hard to understand why he is so lovable, but he is.Neverland is a lot darker than I thought it would be. For all its innocence, it is full of adult ideas in embryo. This makes sense, as every adult was once a child. One thing I noticed was that every female in Neverland — the mermaids, Tiger Lily, Tinker Bell — is jealous of Wendy because of Peter. Peter, of course, doesn't understand this in the least and it's doubtful if they do either. But the whole idea of adult jealousy and possession is very much present.And I was fascinated by Hook's musings on good form as a front we put on for the world. We adults try so hard to have it — which, of course, means we haven't got it. Barrie writes, "Good form! However much he [Hook] may have degenerated, he still knew that this is all that really matters... Most disquieting reflection of all, was it not bad form to think about good form?" It seems that good form means correct manners and dress, but sometimes Barrie uses it in a way that sounds more like a moral compass, not just one's outward presentation. Hook is obsessed with good form, but either he misunderstands it or it really is just nice manners divorced from meaning.Barrie also explores the theme of abandonment. Much is made of the fact that the Darling children leave their nursery without a qualm because they are secure in their parents' love and know that the window will always be left open for them. But what about children who aren't so sure of their parents' affection? Peter hates Wendy's story that details her mother's faithful love for her children, because his own mother forgot him. When he flew back to visit her, the window was shut and a new baby had taken his place. This pains him and it seems to be the one thing he hasn't forgotten in all his reckless years of eternal childhood. The effects of abandonment — both abandoning and being abandoned — never leave.Barrie also plays a bit on the idea of a father's role in the family, using Mr. Darling's insecurities as a comic device but also with poignancy. Mr. Darling is always concerned about what the neighbors think, and is hypocritical when it comes to telling the children to take their nasty medicine. But Barrie develops Mr. Darling a bit, and though he hesitates about adopting the six Lost Boys (because no one asked his permission!), he does endure the embarrassment of living in the kennel until his children come home. Mr. Darling is "quite a simple man; indeed he might have passed for a boy again if he had been able to take his baldness off; but he had also a noble sense of justice, and a lion courage to do what seemed right to him." For all his failings, this is high praise indeed.Barrie takes great delight in pretending to scorn mothers in general and Mrs. Darling in particular, because of how their children take advantage of their unselfish maternal love. But really he admires it, and is fascinated by the mystique of motherhood. Barrie says, "You see, the woman [Mrs. Darling] had no proper spirit. I had meant to say extraordinarily nice things about her; but I despise her, and not one of them will I say now... Now that we look at her closely and remember the gaiety of her in the old days, all gone now just because she lost her babes, I find I won't be able to say nasty things about her after all. If she was too fond of her rubbishy children, she couldn't help it." It would seem that Barrie remembers his own mother with mixed feelings.There have been countless adaptations of Peter Pan; in fact, it started as a stage play (the recent film on Barrie's life, Finding Neverland, shows this). I've long been a fan of the animated Disney Peter Pan and Spielberg's Hook. Disney softened the edges of Peter's heartlessness a bit, though it's still there. I think of the part when he is laughing while Wendy is in danger of being drowned by the mermaids. As for Hook, I never knew how many little things in that film are nods to the original story (the name Liza, Peter's character crawling into the kennel like Mr. Darling, the little tent set up in the nursery, some of Peter's dialogue, the focus on "good form," some of the lyrics of Maggie's song, etc.). It makes me appreciate the film even more! I can't say I am really a fan of the 2005 film version Peter Pan. There was something so oddly Freudian and sexualized about it. I didn't care for it when we saw it in theaters — parts even made me uncomfortable — and when we watched it again that feeling only intensified. I'm not sure why it strikes me so unpleasantly, but it does.Peter Pan is just so full of delightful nonsense. From the very first chapter when the Darlings are totting up their expenses to see if they would be able to keep their newborn daughter ("at last Wendy just got through, with mumps reduced to twelve six, and the two kinds of measles treated as one"), to the hilarious descriptions of family life ("'I won't go to bed,' he [Michael] shouted, like one who still believed that he had the last word on the subject"), I knew I would love this book. C. S. Lewis writes, "A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest" — and as I grow older I realize how true this is. I've missed out on the original Peter Pan for all these years, but the window is still left open. If I can't fly out, at least I can look at the winking stars and maybe catch a bit of what they are saying.Funny, bittersweet, and perceptive — no wonder this is a much-beloved classic.

[anodos99_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a lot of fun to read. Much better and very different than the Disney version or any of the other Hollywood attempts, predictably.

[philsyphe · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This was one of the first books I read in preparation for my first year as an English undergraduate. It was part of a module called Landmark Texts, focusing on books that had influenced other similar works, as well as numerous film adaptations.We were informed by our tutors that "Peter Pan" wasn't strictly a children's story. Certainly there are adult themes, which sits somewhat creepily with me, considering the amount of child characters that are involved.Anyway, maybe this would've appealed to me had I read it in childhood, though it's hard to say. I can say that as an adult I was glad to see the back of it.

[foxen_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure what I thought of this. It's the classic story of the boy who never grows up and his interactions with children who do. Peter is an interesting character. He is essentially inhuman, and, the story seems to say, he must be, since growth and change are essential to humanity. The Neverland he plays in is the embodiment of the collective childhood imagination, full of pirates and fairies, and with a fair dose of infantile racism in the form of highly stereotyped "redskins." On the one hand, there's a lot more going on here than just the childhood fantasy. There's a lot going on under the surface: social commentary (Hook went to Eton), Freudian sexuality (not as much of a stretch as you'd think), romance and love triangles, and the inevitable philosophy that gets involved when you contemplate who Peter is. On the other hand, the book seems to try really hard to ignore it's own more interesting themes. I wanted to like this book. I like the idea, I like a lot of the motifs, I like the exploration of memory and imagination, and I like the coming of age (or not) theme. In the end though, I didn't enjoy it much. Reading the actual book added less than I expected to my general understanding of the story (based largely on adaptations, I suppose), and I found the writing style irritatingly juvenile. The narration is given almost in the tone of one of the flighty, none-too-smart children in the story itself. Think Rudyard Kipling's style, but without any ridiculousness and about half as much whimsy. I didn't hate the book: I like the story, and the growing up part at the end did get to me, but I was hoping for more, and it just wasn't there.

[paulavev · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So familiar is the tale of a boy who soars through the sky, propelled by happy thoughts and pixie dust, with a tireless spunk and refusal to grow up. However, only those who read the original Peter Pan will meet the ruthless, selfish fiend of a character who kills pirates and despises the thought of his mother. Barrie's Pan considers life itself to be an adventure and seamlessly jumps from one escapade to the next, often forgetting his accomplices and leaving them to fend for themselves! It is not until he and his Lost Boys of Neverland meet Wendy and her brothers, John and Michael, that he begins to understand the foreign concepts of care, responsibility, and a mother's love. In telling the story of Peter and Wendy, Barrie uses an eloquent, fantastical writing style. The reader consistently feels an air of magic and mischief as Barrie blends illustrative descriptions and sarcastic humor to bring to life imagination and creativity. Each of the seventeen chapters conveys a new tale and is written with the ideal length for a bedtime story. Given its early twentieth century origin, the text contains some language that may be unfamiliar to adolescent readers. The imagery, however, is so powerful that one lost sentence will not detract the reader from the message as a whole. Such a mystical atmosphere is amplified further in this 100th Anniversary Edition by Michael Hague’s vivid, full-page color illustrations interleaved throughout the novel. With Peter Pan, Barrie's own childlike tendencies and innocent writing style have come together to create a timeless children's hero and classic book for all ages.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn't actually read this edition, but rather, I read an abridged edition aloud to my son. It has been a very long time since I've read Peter Pan in its entirety, although as my son has gotten interested in the character, we have watched the Disney movie and then read the abridged version of the novel.The story holds up. My son is still fascinated by the character of Peter Pan and his adversary, Captain Hook. He enjoys the adventures on the island. As an adult reader, I was disturbed at how Indians (albeit fantasy-land Indians, rather than genuine Native Americans) were portrayed, as well as some of the female-male stereotyping (although the Disney movie is much worse in that regard). In those ways, the story is dated.What struck me the most, though, is how bloodthirsty this story is. Peter does not just play at sword-fighting; he kills people (mainly pirates). Also, I did identify with the poor mother who was left behind, wondering for weeks or maybe even months where her children went to. Although, in hindsight, maybe they shouldn't have employed a dog as a governess. These things did not seem to concern my son at all.Overall, this is still a ripping good children's adventure story, and it does really capture that tension between wanting to grow up and wanting to stay a child forever better than almost any children's book I can think of. Modern parents should be aware of stereotypes and violence, which may require softening.

[lucyhermy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Though this is technically a children's book, the prose is charming and smart enough to entertain those much older. Barrie has an astounding way with words that snaps you right up and carries you along through the whole adventure. I would certainly read this again (and hope to share it with my children aloud someday), and I'd make a special effort to study the progression of the story--it seemed like the language "grew up" as the book went on. Could just be my perception though.

[katieloucks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A little darker than I was expecting - Peter and the boys kill and they don't think about it. Read it first before deciding to read it to your child.

[ccostakis_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This classic tale is in its original format in this story, written by JM Barrie. It follows a magical boy, Peter Pan, and his adventures in Neverland as he refuses to grow up! Wendy, John and Michael soon join him for an adventure fighting pirates! This book would be good for middle school students, though it is slightly different (and more violent) than the Disney version.

[misslizzy_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this book somewhat late in life, simply because I thought it was a children's book. Not that I am against reading children's literature, but I really thought that I was too old for this book. Man, was I wrong! This book is actually very adult. Peter's life, how he will always be a child, and will always be alone, made me cry. And the illustrations in this particular edition were gorgeous.

[hoosgracie · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The story of the boy who never grows up. Having listened to Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson's wonderful prequels to Peter Pan (Peter and the Star Catchers and Peter and the Shadow Theives), I wanted to listen to the original - I never had. Well, I really didn't like it. The reader was good, but Peter is a little brat. I think Disney improved on Peter.