Just Think Happy Thoughts (Peter Pan – A Book Review)

Hello my loves! I hope your holidays are going well. Honestly, I’ve underestimated how busy it was going to be. I want to apologize for how spaced out my postings have gotten. I’m still getting it done, but with two jobs, it’s been a little rough. I love you all, I’m still here, just a little delayed. Bear with me.

Peter Pan

Author: J.M. Barrie

Published: 1911

My Rating: 

All children grow up, except one…

It’s a starry night when Peter Pan and Tinker Bell come to the Darling household. Wendy Darling wakes from her slumber to see Peter at the end of her bed, struggling to reattach his shadow. After helping him, he wants whisk her and her brothers, John and Michael, away to Neverland to meet his Lost Boys for adventures and so Wendy can tell great stories. All it takes is a little fairy dust along with happy thoughts and they lift the Darling children off into the sky.

Though, Captain Hook and his pirate crew are awaiting Peter’s return to Neverland so that he can seek his revenge for the hand that was lost to the great Croc.

Pirates, Indians and mermaids galore.  And…never growing up. A place that dwells in our own imaginations, filled with magic and wonder holds as much danger as it does adventure and Peter Pan, the Lost Boys as well as the Darlings kids will have to pull together to make it through.

This is a book I believe all children should read. Based on the original play and well-known from its Disney movie, it’s filled with magic and the whims of children, and that’s something I enjoyed revisiting. Neverland was the place I always wanted to runaway to. The adventure that Barrie captures is utterly splendid, painted in such vivid color.

I don’t know about any of you who have read the book and/or seen the movie(s), but I’ve always wanted to be a Lost Boy. ALWAYS! To be able to live so wildly without rules (and shoes because shoes are freaking terrible), and to be so free? And to never grow up? Not to mention, battling pirates, swimming with mermaids. It’s a dream. Plus, I would look really adorable in a raccoon suit or maybe a flying squirrel suit.

Tell me, after growing up, if you could, would you go back and be a Lost Boy?

Moving out of my fantasy, there are significant differences between the films and the novel itself. I know there’s a Disney version, and a live action film (2003), and then there’s Hook with Robin Williams, and the Peter Pan of Once Upon A Time who turned out to be quite the villain. I won’t go too much in to detail. Each did a unique rendition, but stayed true to the nature of what Peter Pan represents. Youth, freedom, and mischief. For those of you who haven’t watched them, I won’t ruin it for you, but definitely give each of them a watch, especially if you’ve read the book. I know my favorite is a toss-up between Hook and the live action Peter Pan(2003). I was boycrazy about him! *facepalms myself* Now days I’m a little crazy about Hook of Once Upon a Time.

And while this book was intriguing at showing the ways in which children are rebellious rascals who do not want parents, I saw that their craving for a mother and father figure was still present. Peter acted as father while Wendy was mother. Both roles are what the children originally escaped from; it’s why they came to Neverland. They didn’t want to grow up to be like their parents. Yet, they looked for the guidance only parents can give from these two children, though not really since they mostly just sought a person to follow and learn silly stories from.

This tale is so fun and easy to get lost in. It doesn’t matter how old you are when you read this. It’ll still make you feel like a kid. I honestly don’t have a single bone to nitpick at with this book.

What do you think?

As I began writing this review I got to thinking. What would you want to see if you went to Neverland? Mermaids? Pirates? The Redskins? Or maybe the Fairies?

Tell me in the comments! Personally, I’d really like to see the mermaids.

Quotables:

“Second star to the right, and straight on till morning.” (Peter Pan, p. 45)

“It is only the gay and innocent and heartless who can remember the way.” (Wendy, p. 201)

More to come soon…

-K.

P.S. Song today? Afterlife by Ingrid Michaleson.

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