Peter Pan

A short classic with a narrator who keeps changing the mood: funny, then sudden, then sad. The pirates and flying are the draw, but the last three chapters, about forgetting and growing up, are what stay. Four out of five (draft). Read it if: you only know the disney film and want the original; you like children's classics with a sharp, dark edge; you want a short fantasy about growing up and being forgotten. Skip it if: you want a plot with no jokes from the narrator; you dislike the book's dated depiction of the island tribe; you expect the cartoon: hook and tinker bell are darker here.

Peter Pan summary, chapter by chapter, told through the nursery window: Neverland, Hook, the Night of Nights and the ending. Full spoilers. Peter Pan Summary: Chapter by Chapter, Window by Window →

Is the Peter Pan book like the Disney movie? The window scene, Tinker Bell, the lost boys and Hook, checked against the novel. Film claims are labelled reported. Spoilers. Peter Pan Book vs Movie →

Peter Pan is about a boy who never grows up and takes Wendy, John and Michael Darling from their London nursery to Neverland, where they meet the lost boys, fairies, mermaids and the pirate Captain Hook. The novel ends with Wendy grown up and her daughter Jane flying off with Peter.

It is written for children but narrated by a wry adult voice, and it is darker than most adaptations. In the Gutenberg text Hook poisons Peter's medicine, pirates are killed, and the last chapter is about a boy who forgets and a girl who grows up.

The Gutenberg text, ebook number 16, is headed Peter Pan with Peter and Wendy in brackets. The file says it matches the 1911 original publication.

The Gutenberg text has 17 chapters and about 50,000 words by our count.

J. M. Barrie, credited on the Gutenberg title page as James Matthew Barrie.