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    The Little White Bird: “The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.”
    The Little White Bird: “The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.”
    The Little White Bird: “The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.”
    Ebook277 pages3 hours

    The Little White Bird: “The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.”

    By J.M. Barrie

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    J.M. Barrie’s novel, The Little White Bird, combines fantastic and humorous happenings with social comedy. It represents the foundational work of what has now become a whole mythology established around the fictional character of Peter Pan. The different chapters differ in tone and in the degree of seriousness and intensity. The chapters featuring Peter pan are set in London’s famous Kensington Gardens of which they provide minute descriptions. When the gardens are closed to the public by the end of the day, supernatural beings such as fairies get out of their hiding places to roam in the park. The other chapters of the novel are generally set in the city of London. Among the most memorable characters of The Little White Bird, one can mention Captain W who is also the narrator of story, the little child David who takes part in the story before he was even born, and, of course, Peter pan, the strange young boy with magical powers who has many things in common with the fairies. The Peter Pan mythology is mainly based on the strange happenings and the eccentric celebrations and habits which are depicted in this book.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherA Word To The Wise
    Release dateAug 20, 2013
    ISBN9781780007250
    The Little White Bird: “The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.”
    Author

    J.M. Barrie

    J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie (1860--1937) was a novelist and playwright born and educated in Scotland. After moving to London, he authored several successful novels and plays. While there, Barrie befriended the Llewelyn Davies family and its five boys, and it was this friendship that inspired him to write about a boy with magical abilities, first in his adult novel The Little White Bird and then later in Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, a 1904 play. Now an iconic character of children's literature, Peter Pan first appeared in book form in the 1911 novel Peter and Wendy, about the whimsical adventures of the eternal boy who could fly and his ordinary friend Wendy Darling.

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    Reviews for The Little White Bird

    4/5

    32 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The book which introduced the world to Peter Pan. At times delightfully whimsical and funny and other times the themes are quite adult. I'll leave the tag for Children's Literature up, but it's not a bedtime story, directed at older kids, perhaps.
    • 3/5
      Plot: 3 stars
      Characters: 3 stars
      Style: 3 stars
      Pace: 3 stars

      Yes, I know. 12 days into the year and I'm just now finishing one book. My internship has taken up a great deal of my reading time, and because it's slush right now, I'm hardly reading through the whole novel. Be that as it may, as part of my crit partner duties, I'm snagging some of my reading time to read a few classics for As Yet Undisclosed Reasons. This is one of them. If you see other classics from around the same time period, the same reasoning applies. This would have gotten a higher rating, but the strange circumlocution of the storytelling method left me underwhelmed. ;)
    • 4/5
      A very old-fashioned story of parents and children, kindness and lots of fairy tales. The story of Peter Pan begins toward the end of this book; a bit awkwardly I feel as though it was tacked on as an afterthought. The Captain, who narrates The Liittle White Bird, has a gruff exterior to his neighbors and acquaintances and yet he watches the life story of Mary and her painter beau William unfold, he does all he can to help them without revealing his identity. I enjoyed the challenge of deciphering the euphemistic language throughout the book; in Chapter 4 especially! Captain becomes a great friend to David, Mary's son in a way that would never be permitted today. Very different times! Mary sleuths to learn who her family's benefactor is while the Cap'n does everything he can to prevent her finding out. You'll have to read the book to find out which one succeeds. Good read but I was expecting more from the author of The Little Minister.
    • 3/5
      This book from 1902 introduces the first appearance of Peter Pan who is to be found wandering London's Kensington Gardens at night. However, this only takes up a very few chapters in the book. The rest being the story told by a man about his relationship with a little boy and the boy's mother. It is very unusual and the early 1900's English used is sometimes difficult to tell what is actually meant. It was not really one of my favorites, but I am glad I read it because I was wanting to get to the origin of Peter Pan, and at least I accomplished that! This may not be for everyone, it is not a children's book, and I don't know that I would recommend it. I think you'll just have to read it for yourself to decide ;)

    Book preview

    The Little White Bird - J.M. Barrie

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