Peter Pan By: J.M. Barrie

Reviewed By: Julia M.

Have you ever heard about the Boy Who Never Grew Up? Do the names Wendy, Captain Hook, and Tinkerbell sound familiar to you? You are probably thinking back to your childhood, sitting in front of your t.v. watching the Disney movie, “Peter Pan” on vhs tape. I am not here to talk about that, even though I would certainly not mind it! This past summer I read the unabridged version of “Peter Pan”, by J.M. Barrie.

Peter and his fairy friend, Tinkerbell, fly to the Darling family nursery in London, England and befriend Wendy, John, and Michael Darling.  Tinkerbell provides Pixie Dust and  Peter teaches the children how to fly. (You can't fly without Pixie Dust!)The destination is Neverland. Neverland is a place where children never grow up and have a free life with no responsibilities, except for being a child. Neverland is not really in our world. It’s to the “Second Star to the Right and Straight on Til Morning.” Peter and Tinkerbell lead the children on many adventures, including a pirate attack.

This theme of this book is the beauty of youth. Wendy does not want to grow up and leave her brothers and the nursery. She loves the fun they have together and the imaginary life of the nursery.

 I recommend this book to students in their teens because, I think kids can relate to Wendy, we don't want to grow up! Teenagers will admire her courage for wanting to be a kid forever -- though her family disapproves.   And more importantly, her fear of becoming an adult. As a teenager I know that my life is fairly simple, I go to school, do sports, hang out and have fun with friends, but as you grow older, things get harder. After you graduate college, what comes next? The fear of not knowing what to do with your life, where you're going to end up, who you're going to end up with, your job, it's all scary for us. I know that I don't want to grow up because when you're an adult, life will not be as fun. No more time to be silly, no more time to mess up, and no more time to not care what others think, and just do your own thing.That’s why I love Peter Pan. He reminds us that childhood is too short so we must live it to our fullest. In the book, there is a character named, Captain Hook. He is the antagonist and always wants to defeat Peter Pan. In this book, I interpreted Captain Hook to represent the cruelty of adulthood. He certainly does not know how to have fun. He wants Peter to grow up, but Peter refuses, he only has one childhood and he is not going to waste it on some mean, old adult.

The term “YOLO” has been showing up everywhere I go. It means “You Only Live Once.” I think Peter Pan would appreciate that, but might change it to “YOHOC.” “You Only Have One Childhood.” I think Peter would all want us to follow it. To never let your childhood go, even if you are an adult, never let go of being a kid.

That is why I recommend the book, Peter Pan , By: J.M. Barrie. Hopefully he can all teach us a lesson.

Honorable Mentions:
"Hunger Games" by: Suzanne Collins
"Catching Fire" by: Suzanne Collins
 "Mockingjay" by: Suzanne Collins
"Kira-Kira" by: Cynthia Kadohata
"Friederich" by: Hans PeterRichter