Peter Pan: The Original Story (Paperback)

by J. M. Barrie (Author) "All children, except one, grow up..." (more)
Key Phrases: home under the ground, first twin, Tinker Bell, Peter Pan, Tiger Lily (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Revisit enchanted Neverland with
J. M. Barrie's timeless tale

Join Wendy, John, and Michael Darling as they follow Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up, to a world where fairies live and children can fly. But beware -- danger abounds in this magical land of mermaids, Indians, and fairy dust. Captain Hook and his pirate crew want all children to walk the plank, especially Peter Pan.

There is always an adventure to be had in Neverland. So come along with the Darling children as they soar into the night sky -- second to the right and straight on till morning!

About the Author
James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937) was born in Scotland and moved to England to pursue a literary career. He earned the reputation of a fine playwright and Peter Pan was first performed on stage in 1904. In 1911 Barrie turned this story into a book, which was originally entitled Peter and Wendy.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperFestival (November 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060563079
• ISBN-13: 978-0060563073
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #186,414 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peter Pan Review, May 9, 2004

By	Katherine Trimble (Bak Middle School of the Arts, West Palm Beach) - See all my reviews

Peter Pan is the timeless classic everyone has grown up to. It has been passed down from generation to generation but it all started with one man, J. M. Barrie. When anyone tells the story of Peter Pan most adults don't think it is suitable for them. They think that it is simply a children's story and always will be. However, Barrie made sure that this story would be appropriate for all ages. Some of the language might be a bit difficult for the youngest range but the context helps to figure out a funny word or two. It appeals to the older range because of the layers it conceals. Behind each game they play is a message. Hidden under each smile Wendy gives to Peter is her hidden kiss. However, this story relates mostly to teenagers as they are going through the stage of growing up. Just days before I read Peter Pan I thought of how nice it would be to be free of homework and school. I thought how wonderful it would be to grow up and be independent. After reading this story, and seeing it exactly how Barrie told it, I don't want to grow up as much as Peter Pan and Wendy don't want to. I first heard the story, from seeing the movie, at a very young age, probably around the time I was 2 or 3. Disney tried hard to incorporate everything from the book but they didn't get every meaning or all the symbolism. For example, Mrs. Darling and Wendy Darling both have a hidden kiss. This kiss is hidden under the right hand corner of their mouths and only their true love can find it. Because Mr. Darling can't find Mrs. Darling's kiss, perhaps Barrie is trying to say that although she loves Mr. Darling dearly, he isn't her true love. Barrie fills his book with the perfect amount of detail and color. Children don't get bored because there is too much and adults don't need any more. At one point in the story, Barrie writes about the adventures at the lagoon. "If you shut your eyes and are a lucky one, you may see at times a shapeless pool of lovely pale colours suspended in the darkness; then if you squeeze your eyes tighter, the pool begins to take shape, and the colours become so vivid that with another squeeze they must go on fire." It is work like this that captures the reader and makes them never put the book down. The action and the drama are another reason such a wide age range is attached to this story. The lost boys go on countless raids and enticing adventures that children can only dream about. The love story between Peter and Wendy thickens throughout the entire book and we don't know till the end whether the Darlings will return home to England or stay in Neverland forever. Barrie does such an incredible job with the characters I felt I had met each one personally. John and Michael are as adorable as ever, Captain Hook as evil, Tinkerbell as envious, Peter as cocky and Wendy as in love. Though the title expresses that the story is about Peter Pan, I think one of Barrie's hidden messages was that it was really Wendy's story. Peter Pan can meet many more pirates and have many more adventures but Wendy only had that one time with him. She could only be his mother, or possibly his only love, once in her life. She was supposed to go back to Neverland every spring to do Peter's spring cleaning but he forgot almost every year. Barrie might have been trying to show how forgetful little boys are. He also might have been trying to show Peter's denial that Wendy might grow up. If Peter didn't go back then Wendy might not grow up. If he didn't go back he wouldn't be reminded that he lost the love of his life. Barrie did a phenomenal job with this story. His ideas make you wonder why we have to grow up and why none of us have ever been able to see Tink's glow, outside of our dreams. This book is suitable for all ages and the only thing that could make it even better were if we could be in the story ourselves.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Peter Pan," a Child's Novel for Adults, March 16, 2005

By	Joseph A. Psarto (Westlake, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Peter Pan," or by its original title, "Peter and Wendy," when considered in its entirety is a grand read for an adult. The key to its enjoyment is the realization that all spoken and written words are metaphor. For even when words sit closely to reality they are not, and cannot be, the actual things they represent. They are signs! And sometimes they are signs of things not readily apparent and requiring work. Imagination is needed. And that is why all written words are fiction regardless of category, for even as they reach toward reality they are not themselves the same reality. It is a very interesting philosophical concept. The answer is found in Tolstoy's definition of art.

J.M. Barrie uses his story to attack certain English pretensions and inane formalities at the beginning of the twentieth century, life by rote being one, but "Peter Pan" is primarily about the mind and world of a child. The adults in the story are childhood concepts, as are the animals, water, earth, weather and sky. Childhood has no chronological border even though concentrated at the beginning of our lives, for it is perfectly capable of coming back now and again. Mine does. I hope yours does too, for if childhood never comes back the result might be insanity. And if it never leaves that too might bring madness.

I think that the most important lesson of "Peter Pan" is the final description of Captain Hook near the end of the story, not of his physicality, but of his character. It might very well be a reading child's first realization that we are good and we are bad, at the same time, every damn one of us, and that our sharing of such disparate qualities is cause for love and compassion.

"James Hook, thou not wholly unheroic figure, farewell."

That night Peter cries in his sleep. Is he crying for Hook? I say yes, I hope so.

Perhaps the book's second most important lesson is found in the last chapter's picture of time rolling on and on, children replacing adults replacing children, over and over, again and again. As Barrie writes it, "When Margaret grows up she will have a daughter, who is to be Peter's mother in turn; and so it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless."

Yes, "heartless," for that's just as much a part of being a child as the other two adjectives. "Peter Pan" is sprinkled with truths that are downplayed these days by too many adults trying like hell to avoid conflict. But children are too innocent for such tactics, for truth comes natural to them. Children are perfectly capable of creating their own self-esteem at the drop of a hat, or the tinkle of a faerie bell.

-----Joseph A. Psarto, Westlake, Ohio

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorites, December 28, 2003

By	Barbara L. Schwendenmann (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a child I wasnt to keen on reading. I avoided it at all costs. I read sparknotes and watched the movie(which is not always the best thing to do) instead of actually reading the book. Any time I got to choose what I read I would always choose something easy. Thats how I came across Peter Pan.
In 8th grade we had to choose a book, from a list that was given to us, to take a test on. I saw Peter Pan and thought it would be easy enough. I was actually dreading the fact that i had to read it.
But I swear as soon as I actually sat down and began to read it I was hooked. I couldn't put it down. The words just drag you in. You get lost in the language. The book keeps many things simple for children but yet there is a lesson for adults as well. It actually shocked me after I finished reading it that it was considered a childrens book.
I highly recommend this book to any one who thinks they hate reading.