Peter Pan - Softcover

Barrie, J. M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 142095248X ISBN 13: 9781420952483

Publisher: Digireads.com, 2016

Synopsis

First composed as a play in 1904 and subsequently as a novel in 1911, James Matthew Barrie’s “Peter Pan” is one of the greatest fantasy tales ever written. Inspired by Barrie’s friendship with the Llewelyn Davies family, the story concerns its titular character, Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to grow up. The book opens with Peter’s nighttime visits to the house of Mrs. Mary Darling, who entertains her children with bedtime stories that Peter eavesdrops on. When he is spotted one evening Peter loses his shadow trying to escape. Later he returns to retrieve it and his identity is finally revealed to Wendy Darling. Peter invites Wendy, along with her brothers John and Michael, to return to his island home of Neverland. There Peter welcomes Wendy into his underground home where she assumes a mothering role to his gang of lost boys. A series of adventures ensue for Peter, his lost boys, and the Darling children. They travel to the Mermaids’ Lagoon to rescue the princess Tiger Lily and have their first battle with the evil Captain Hook and his pirates. Later Peter must rescue John, Michael, and Wendy when they are captured by Captain Hook. A captivating tale of fantasy and adventure “Peter Pan” has delighted audiences and readers ever since its first appearance. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

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Review

"All children, except one, grow up." Thus begins a great classic of children's literature that we all remember as magical. What we tend to forget, because the tale of Peter Pan and Neverland has been so relentlessly boiled down, hashed up, and coated in saccharine, is that J.M. Barrie's original version is also witty, sophisticated, and delightfully odd. The Darling children, Wendy, John, and Michael, live a very proper middle-class life in Edwardian London, but they also happen to have a Newfoundland for a nurse. The text is full of such throwaway gems as "Mrs. Darling first heard of Peter Pan when she was tidying up her children's minds," and is peppered with deliberately obscure vocabulary including "embonpoint," "quietus," and "pluperfect." Lest we forget, it was written in 1904, a relatively innocent age in which a plot about abducted children must have seemed more safely fanciful. Also, perhaps, it was an age that expected more of its children's books, for Peter Pan has a suppleness, lightness, and intelligence that are "literary" in the best sense. In a typical exchange with the dastardly Captain Hook, Peter Pan describes himself as "youth... joy... a little bird that has broken out of the egg," and the author interjects: "This, of course, was nonsense; but it was proof to the unhappy Hook that Peter did not know in the least who or what he was, which is the very pinnacle of good form." A book for adult readers-aloud to revel in--and it just might teach young listeners to fly. (Ages 5 and older) --Richard Farr

Book Description

An upscale classic edition, with the full text and illustrations from the internationally acclaimed Silke Leffler.

About this edition

• Publisher: Digireads.com
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 142095248X
• ISBN 13: 9781420952483
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 110