Customer Reviews

Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Even though I do think that this is a great book , it is only half of an even greater. For those of you who don't know this book was just the middle few chapters of one of JM Barrie's books entitled "The Little White Bird". I would encourage people to buy that version instead of this because it includes the same text and more detailing story of a young boy quite in the same way like Peter Pan.

If you buy this book, definately get an illistrated edition! The fairy images are gorgeous and worth treasuring. The story itself is beautiful: How Peter fell out of his tram, was taught by the birds to fly and finally returned home to find the window locked to him.

I would not recommend buying this book if you expect fabulous color plate images of Arthur Rackham (like I did); the images are all poorly scanned black and white (some of which are upside down in my copy) and do not do him justice. However, if you plan on reading this for the story and don't care about illustration quality, I would highly recommend this book.

Like most, I read "Peter and Wendy" (which many know simply as "Peter Pan," and was the basis for the Disney movie) before reading "Kensington Gardens." I completely enjoyed "Kensington," and loved getting to spend a little more time with Pan, getting to know his history and his friends in the garden.

I would recommend "Peter and Wendy" be read before "Kensington Gardens," simply because "Peter and Wendy" will allow the reader to grow fond of the character, and "Kensington" will allow this further insight into his life.

Either way, read 'em both. It's well worth it.

The Sweet Adventures of Baby Peter Pan - A Review by Tinkerbell III

"Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" is J.M. Barrie's original Pan prequel, and no matter how many more come along, this is Peter's only official backstory. Peter Pan (who is a much sweeter character in this book) is not limited in his play, even though he is only seven days old! His adventures begin when he runs away from home and finds himself in the middle of London's Kensington Gardens. There he meets Solomon Caw, a wise old crow, who reminds Peter that he was once a bird and teaches him of the bird ways. Oddly enough, Peter cannot fly in this book, even with his bird ancestry, so he navigates the Gardens by boat on the Serpentine River. Eventually, the fairies bestow him with the temporary gift of flight, and baby Peter flies home for the doomed meeting with his mother.

The fact that these chapters were originally published in a different novel causes this book to lack a solid plot. It is just several individual chapters about Peter's adventures. There are many sequences that have nothing to do with Peter at all - the whole first chapter is a helpful tour of Kensington Gardens, and there are several interesting segments explaining the ways of the fairies. Chapter 5 is all about Maimie Mannering, the little girl Peter meets in the Gardens. There are also a few parts that intersect with the future "Peter Pan" - Peter's explanation of the birth of fairies, for instance, the visit with his mother, and his misunderstanding of kisses. As for the illustrations, they are by Arthur Rackham and would be beautiful, but in my particular edition they have been printed so dark they are almost impossible to see. I think "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" is a great read for Peter Pan fans, and an absolutely excellent bedtime story for children.

By the way, I also recommend "The Little White Bird" in which these chapters were first published. It was witty and sarcastic and touching.

P.S. Check out the other Peter Pan-related reviews by Tinkerbell III!

i've always been interested J.M. Barrie's work, and this was is simply AMAZING. J.M. Barrie obviously had fun writing and creating this world. the first few pages aren't good to judge the rest of the book for. i loved them, too, but most people wouldn't. other than that, i liked this more than Peter Pan.

This book continues the adventures of Peter Pan and is a very enjoyable read.

I recently bought a delightful leather-bound copy, which is limited to 500 copies worldwide, and liked it very much. However, there are two flaws in the book: 1) the colour plates were not inserted correctly between numbered pages (as indicated on list of illustrations), and 2) there is one page that was printed half-way through which happens to be a B/W illustration. The quality of colour plates seemed very similar (except brighter) to the the 1951 edition I've got, so I am not sure if they were poorly reproduced, or purposely reproduced in such way to immitate those appeared in earlier editions. Overall, a nice copy by Hodder & Stoughton.

Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens is beautifully illustrated by Arthur Rackham-and

Peter's miserable story of being locked out of his mother's room (she

had bars put on the window so that her new baby couldn't "fly away" as

Peter did) made my eyes squirt tears as when I first read this

book when I was a child. All of the stories are amusing. Barrie's

English sense of humor has something for children and adults.

This is where the story of Peter Pan starts and it is a wonderful one at that. Maybe not as adventurous as the better known story of Peter Pan and maybe not really as focused as some may wish. It has a weird, twisted logic to it, as it darts and flies about. But that makes it all the more wonderful and magical. The drawings by Arthur Rackham add to the feelings of a story set in a world long ago and far away.