“all the 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 story of Peter Pan and Neverland has been so relentlessly abridged, shredded, and saccharin-coated, is that J.M. Barrie’s original version is also witty, sophisticated and delightfully weird. The beloved children, Wendy, John and Michael, live a very proper middle-class life in Edwardian London, but they also have a Newfoundland for a nurse. the text is full of throwaway gems like “the dear lady first heard of peter pan when she was sorting the minds of her children”, and is peppered with deliberately obscure vocabulary including “embonpoint”, “quietus” and “pluperfect”. lest we forget, it was written in 1904, a relatively innocent time when a plot about kidnapped children must have seemed more surely fanciful. also, perhaps, it was a time when he expected more from his children’s books, for peter pan has a flexibility, lightness, and intelligence that are “literary” in the best sense. In a typical exchange with the cowardly Captain Hook, Peter Pan describes himself as “youth…joy…a little hatched bird,” and the author chimes in: “This, of course, was nonsense. But it was proof to the unhappy Hook that Peter didn’t know in the least who or what he was, which is the very pinnacle of good form.” a book for adult readers, out loud to delight, and could teach young listeners to fly. (from 5 years) -richard farr
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See Also: 24 Christmas Books for Preschoolers • The Simple Parent
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