Customer Reviews

Peter Pan

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Illustrated by one of today's most influential illustrators, Gustafson's Peter Pan is a delight to the eye. His painstaking illustrations bring the world of Peter, Tinkerbell and the Lost Boys to glorious full color life. A lavish edition, the pages are filled with vignettes as well as vast full color landscapes of the world we know as Neverland. This book in particular captures all of the magic and childhood whimsy we know from Peter Pan and have come to expect from gustafson. The text is broken up into chapters as was Barrie's original story, so this edition will delight a new generation looking to know the full story of Peter Pan. Expect to see Peter and Tinkerbell at their most magical, The Darling children at their most adventuresome and Hook at his most dreadful in this classic brought to life by a favorite illustrator.A+

Although this book is certainly delightful, as many others have said, it's a classic that adds layers with each re-reading, and many of those layers are dark. In fact, Barrie does not so much tell us that children are innocent, as that they are "heartless" - we might say amoral, certainly oblivious of the heartache they cause others. As the author continually points out, the good and bad are interwined; Peter's most fascinating quality is his conceit. He is willing to sacrifice his own life for Wendy's (but might equally neglect to save her if his mind is elsewhere). Hook's cruelty combines with an obsession with "good form." Almost every character is richly drawn (in both prose and oils). Of the many editions I've seen of this story, this is far and away the most attractive, providing a rich setting for a tale that deserves to be discovered and enjoyed by a new generation, and an author that should not be forgotten.

Peter Pan is among my favorite children's tales. This a particularly lovely version because it's unabridged and has beautiful illustrations. In this version, the story and characters take on a rich quality that is missing in the Disney and other shorter version. Nonetheless, I think the the original version of the story is better appreciated by teens and adults. For young children, some of the shortened versions work better. As your own Peter Pans start to grow up, hand them a copy of this book. Maybe they'll learn to fly in their imaginations for at least a little while longer!

I have always loved the Disney animation of Peter Pan and often walked by this book in the library with a curious smile. This is a really classical children's story - beautifully told by J. M. Barrie. He has a unique touch that brings young characters to life in a highly entertaining perspective. It's really amusing - all the adventures that the children have and all their different personalities, in constant change and development. The book was written in the early 1900's so the tone is a bit old-fashioned, the way I like it ;-)

Neverland is a very mystical place, inhabited by magic and villains. It's like a virtual land of survival and play open only to children and imagination. Now I must comment on the characters: Wendy is very sweet and angelic (sometimes too good - but I still can't get over Tinkerbell trying to kill her!), John is dignified and honorable, and of course we have adorable baby Michael. Peter himself is much more adorable in the book with his heroic airs and moments of relapse. They are the main characters and through their point of view come the adults, which is very cute. The book shows how sweet and innocent and precious childhood is, and even if you consider this too juvenile, I say it serves as a delightful reverie and a sensational adventure for all ages!! I actually read this book 2 yrs. ago but it's still a pleasant memory.

Peter Pan belongs to the class of children's literature that adults enjoy to read, such as The Wind in The Willows and Winnie the Pooh. In fact, I am in doubt a child would understand the basic emotion underlying this book - losing your childhood innocence, something only an adult (and the older the better) could understand. His characters are also much too complex for a child to appreciate - see, for instance, James Hook, whose only wish is to see Peter display "bad form". Barrie writes beautifully, and his first and last chapters are worth their weight in gold. Do yourself a favor - buy this book for your kids, read it for yourself.

I LOVED this version of Peter Pan. It's the original version and it has really beautiful pictures. I like the original because it gives so much more depth to the story. Now I know a lot more about all the characters than I did when I had only seen the Disney movie. There are some great parts in the book that the movie didn't even touch, which I think was stupid of Disney to do.

I chose this particular edition, illustrated by Scott Gustafson, because the illustrations are rich and vibrant, in a word - gorgeous!. I never read Peter Pan as a youngster, but my mother-in-law read it to each of her children so I have continued the new family tradition, reading it to each of my children and thoroughly enjoying it along the way. The British expressions are a bit difficult for the youngest to understand, but the story is full of adventure and challenges to keep everyone coming back for more - and begging for just 5 more minutes before bed please!

Hello. Me again. Not a kid, but I like using this form. Anyhow, this version is the real version of Peter Pan. Where in Peter actually kills pirates instead of hitting their noses. Where Hook actually is afraid of the croc, instead of being it's dance partner.
*shudders at Disney*
Woo. Sorry. So, here's the poop: The Darling children fly off with the immortal Peter Pan to Neverland. At first it's a wildly nice romp, until Jas. Hook finds out about them. Then, it's a final duel to the death between Peter Pan and Hook, giving birth to one of the greatest lines in literature:
"Proud and insolent youth, prepare to meet thy doom."
"Dark and sinister man, have at thee."
With these parting thoughts, I want to encourage you parents to BUY THIS BOOK. Not for your kids, but for you. If your kid wants to read it, groovy. If not, read and enjoy the lavish drawings by Scott Gustafson. Well, in my last, BRING ME FOOD. NOW.

Henry J. Baugh

Peter Pan is currently my favorite book. This edition is especially beautiful because of the full color illustrations. The picture of the mermaids at Mermaid Lagoon is gorgeous, and the two page portrayals of the Lost Boys on the island and Peter fighting Captain Hook are also great.
This book is very different from the Disney movie. Peter Pan and Tinker Bell come one night and take Wendy Darling and her brothers John and Michael to Neverland. There they meet the Lost Boys (Toodles, Curly, Slightly, Nibs and the Twins) and of course, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee.
From then they have adventures at Mermaid Lagoon, and the Home Underground. Then Wendy gets captured, and you can read it and figure out what happens from here.
The reason I give this book four stars is because the last chapter is really sad (you feel so bad for Peter AND Wendy). I think the title of the chapter explains it all.
But despite the last (HEARTBREAKING!) chapter, you should definitely read this book, and you are so going to wish you could go to Neverland!

This is my favorite book of all time. J. M. Barrie was a genius, and had a knack for writing things that make sense to the heart, although they might not be explicable to the mind. There are no words to truly describe how wonderful this book is in every aspect, and those reviewers who don't see it that way were clearly seeing this book in the wrong light. To the person who said that Mrs. Darling's kiss was "creepy city," you are reading hidden meanings into it where they do not exist, you sick freak. That is a beautiful and sweet concept. And the verb is "lose," not "loose." "Loose" is an adjective meaning the opposite of tight, moron.

Anyhow.

I HIGHLY reccomend the edition illustrated by Scott Gustafson. It is absolutely beautiful, and captures exactly the feeling of the book. My only complaint is that I don't really imagine Wendy looking like that. As for the text, this is a lovely, and in my opinion, essential book for people of all ages. I have loved Peter Pan since before I can remember- the book, mind you, not the Disney film. The book will always be unrivaled in my opinion. It is at once joyous and wistful, both uplifting and melancholy. I plan on naming my firstborn daughter Wendy, for Wendy Darling. I'm sure I had something else to say in response to someone else's review, but I can't remember it now.

"The way Mr. Darling won her was this: the many gentlemen who had been boys when she was a girl discovered simultaneously that they loved her, and they all ran to her house to propose except Mr. Darling, who took a cab and nipped in first, and so he got her. He got all of her, except the innermost box and the kiss. He never knew about the box, and in time gave up trying for the kiss. Wendy thought Napoleon could have got it, but I can picture him trying, and then going off in a passion, slamming the door."

"I don't know whether you have ever seen a map of a person's mind. Doctors sometimes draw maps of other parts of you, and your own map can become intensely interesting, but catch them trying to draw a map of a childs mind, which is not only confused but keeps going round all the time. There are zigzag lines on it, just like your temperature on a card, and these are probably roads on the island; for the Neverland is always more or less an island, with astonishing splashes of color here and there, and coral reefs and rakish-looking craft in the offing, and savages and lonely lairs, and gnomes who are mostly tailors, and caves through which a river runs, and princes with six elder brothers, and a hut going fast to decay, and one very small old lady with a hooked nose.
It would be an easy map if that were all, but there is also first day at school, religion, fathers, the round pond, needlework, murders, hangings, verbs that take the dative, chocolate pudding day, getting into braces, saying ninety-nine, threepence for pulling out your tooth yourself, and so on; and either these are part of the island or they are another map showing through, and it is all rather confusing, especially as nothing will stand still."

"She had found her two older children playing at being herself and Father on the occasion of Wendy's birth, and John was saying:
'I am happy to inform you, Mrs. Darling, that you are now a mother,' in just such a tone as Mr. Darling himself may have used on the real occasion.
Wendy had danced with joy, just as the real Mrs. Darling must have done.
Then John was born, with the extra pomp that he conceived due to the birth of a male, and Michael came from his bath to ask to be born also, but John said brutally that they did not want any more.
Michael had nearly cried. 'Nobody wants me,' he said, and of course the lady in the evening dress could not stand that.
'I do,' she said, 'I so want a third child.'
'Boy or girl?' asked Michael, not too hopefully.
'Boy.'
And with that he leapt into her arms."

"Wendy gave the words, one, two, three, and Michael took his medicine, but Mr. Darling slipped his behind his back.
There was a yell of rage from Michael, and 'O Father!' Wendy exclaimed.
'What do you mean by 'O Father'?' Mr. Darling demanded. 'Stop that row, Michael. I meant to take mine but I-I missed it.'"

And I must stop now, before I transcribe the entire book.