Peter Pan (Bantam Classic)

I have always been curious to read the adventures of Peter Pan without the 'bloated' media versions (Disney, Dreamworks, Kids Story Books, Shrek) that have floated around forever... much like Peter Pan... floating around forever (accidental analogy) Not until my curiosity was peaked by reading about the book 'Child Thief' by Brom did I finally do it. The interest was spurned by Brom's recollections of the Pan story that caused him to actually be inspired to write his own version. I very likely would have given this book a 4 1/2 stars, but some of the language and terminology was lost on me (some was 'translated' but I am sure I am missing some chunks of understanding due to my lack of vocabulary) You may want to keep in mind that I am reading this .. in order to understand the adaptation that Brom created - in that light I knew what Brom got out of tiny parts of the Peter Pan story... that likely affected my minds-eye in reading it, but honestly ... hopefully ... not too much. Initially as you enter the story, the undertone of 'horridness' begins, because there is SO much talked about how 'that night' and the regrets that the parents have over what they did, or did not do - that caused the children to be able to travel to Neverland. Peter is much of a failure of a hero - but I think that not because he fails (many 'heroes' do this) - but because he does not seem to learn - honestly that is the truth of who he is. A boy that just wants to have fun - if he were to learn and become a respectable hero ... he would have to learn and mature, instead he gets by on his luck, and just more blind luck - calling it cleverness does not necessarily make it yours - though when done properly, you certainly can look the wise hero. When you can completely forget that you were leading a group of children to your home, then you cannot be that great of a 'role model'. I would hate to think there were other children he found to recruit as lost boys ... to only forget them and lose them while flying over the ocean. The fact that Peter actually 'made up' or 'said whatever was in head' coming up with the directions that 'EVERYONE' knows in order to get yourself to Neverland. It seems to me that leave five minutes before morning would make for a shorter trip based on those directions. Now - I do not mean to try to rip this classic apart, just bring to light some things that may have been 'glossed' over for so long that we have no idea what the story really contained. I very much enjoyed the story - and gave the stars to prove it, I just never realized how dark the story behind what I saw all my life really was! I had my suspicions - watching the tinkerbell movies - tink is kind and lovable, basically one of the better fairies - yet in the original story (and this was in the movies) she had a foul mouth - and tried to cause a murder. Micheal (the youngest Darling - btw SPOILER ALERT after this ........) killed a pirate near the end of the 'adventure' ... how is that for a young child's upbringing! Peter forgets about Tink a year after the adventure (the narration mentions that she probably died) .... what a wonderful companion? (also the part in Shrek where you see Peter trying to sell Tink... I think is entirely possible as he could have forgotten who she was... ) As well to not completely 'trash' Peter - he has his kinds streaks (with the Never Bird's eggs - and a few other times) ...SPOILER END... All in all - the story is great as it is. Not the happy go lucky clean and cut adventure that we may have all seen and 'loved', but a story with a grand lesson. Peter does not wish to grow up... so in Neverland he forgets everything - memory is what causes us to grow. When we learn something - when we begin to understand something ... we need to make changes, because we REMEMBER! When we make the decision to NOT REMEMBER - to NOT GROW - we become like Peter. Lost. And Alone. So afraid to move forward in life that he must 'steal' children and create adventures. Well onto the adaptation by Brom... which is promised to be even darker - more honestly - I can see it only lifting the veal a tiny bit more.

Great price. My children enjoyed reading this. Came on time.

Like most people, my first introduction to the story of Peter Pan was through the Disney movie. And for the most part, the book and the movie are pretty similar. Some may disagree and point to all of the details that Disney misses or alters, but considering how many liberties Disney takes in its storytelling for most of its movies (consider The Little Mermaid), Disney's Peter Pan is surprisingly close to its source. I became curious about this book as an adult because I read that J.M. Barrie's inspiration for "the boy who never grew up" was in fact a child who died just a day shy of turning 14. This child was the author's older brother - a child who could never be replaced in his mother's heart. As a mother myself, reading about that dark origins of Peter Pan touched my heart and made me incredibly sad. I had never thought about it before, but yes, a dead boy is indeed a boy who never grows up because he can't. Ostensibly, this book is about a boy who comes to whisk three English children away for fun adventures with pirates, mermaids, and Indians, but dig a little deeper and actually this book is really a book about mothers. Over and over again, the author comments on the unconditional love of mothers, the importance of mothers, the role of mothers, and the poor children without mothers. Peter Pan brings Wendy to Neverland where she becomes a mother to him and the lost boys. As Wendy plays the role of a mother, she also keeps faith in her own mother's love and fervently believes that her mother would keep the window open for them. At one point, in a rare moment of darkness, Peter Pan reveals that he doesn't share Wendy's faith in a mother's love. "Long ago," he said, "I thought like you that my mother would always keep the window open for me; so I stayed away for moons and moons and moons, and then flew back; but the window was barred, for mother had forgotten all about me, and there was another little boy sleeping in my bed." And so, we see these small glimpses of darkness amidst the shining faith that Wendy holds on the unconditional love of mothers. Such nuanced and complex commentaries about mothers throughout this book make it worthwhile for adults, and especially mothers, to read. As a mother, I deeply connected with Barrie's theme of mothers, and it made me reflect on how important mothers truly are. With that said, I will say that I didn't care for all the swashbuckling Neverland adventures. I guess those are the sorts of stories that would appeal more to a child than an adult. Nevertheless, I wouldn't recommend this book to children, mostly because the language and vocabulary are rather advanced. Keep the Disney version for the kids and save the book for the parents.

My wife and I both grew up watching Disney films. We each have our own likes and dislikes, but one that we both enjoyed and would watch anytime is Peter Pan. When I heard that Sterling Illustrated Classics was printing Peter Pan and Wendy, I knew I had to own this book. The book begins with a foreword by David Barrie, J.M. Barrie' great-great nephew. This was a brief two pages, but was very interesting. The rights to Peter Pan were left to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (in perpetuity) so that the hospital might always thrive due to this work's popularity. The story itself begins with background on the Darling family. We learn about how Mr. Darling got Mrs. Darling to marry him, the birth of the three children, and how finances were tight with that many mouths to feed. It is also where we are introduced to the notion of Peter Pan and Neverland. Chapter Two is the famous shadow scene, where the faithful dog Nana sees Peter Pan flying about and tries to catch him, but only manages to nab his shadow! The rest of the story is very familiar, as we see mermaids, Lost Boys, pirates, Captain Hook, and Tinker Bell too! The book ends with Wendy growing up and having a daughter who goes off to Neverland. She too will have a daughter, and that daughter will have a daughter, and the cycle will continue indefinitely. This is a quality printed, hardcover book with a dust jacket. What makes it stand out from other editions of this book is the beautiful illustrations. I have never felt anyone has done a sufficient job of capturing the true child-like nature of Peter's character, but these illustrations of him are some of the best I have seen. If you are any kind of fan of Peter Pan, you need this book in your collection. I know I will treasure this copy for years to come!

One of the classics. Just as good now as when I first read it. It's a great story. This kindle version was good too.

My rating is strictly for this edition of Peter Pan: 9781460984642. With children's classics, editions are very important, since you may get a shortened, simplified, or even wildly different text without warning, and sometimes you may be looking for a particular illustrator. This edition of Peter Pan appears to be the complete text and it's quite inexpensive (it's probably cheaper than printing the full text yourself, which you can easily do from online sources). In fact, judging by the scant publication information in the book, this edition was printed to order on the date that I bought it. I deducted stars for tiny and faint print. No illustrations.

As one reads Peter Pan, one doesn't have to do much thinking to figure out why its story has achieved such worldwide acclaim. I had ridiculously high expectations of Mr. Barrie's imagination before purchasing this title, and he has fulfilled them completely. Many parts of the story are nothing but nonsense, which I enjoy above all else. Mr. Darling, the head of the Darling family, commands his children to take their medicine after he hides the medicine he's supposed to take. He brags about how noble he is for drinking a medicine that tastes so much worse that theirs. Unfortunately for him, during his bragging his medicine is found, and the whole family agrees to take their respective medicines on the count of three. Sure enough, when three is reached, everyone except Mr. Darling takes their medicine, and Mr. Darling once again tries to hide his. This kind of scenario is what I'd call Mark Twain nonsense. You can imagine it being true, even though it's quite high up on the ridiculous scale. Then there's what I would classify as over-the-top nonsense - AKA bull - which there is plenty of in Barrie's original story of Peter Pan. Going back to Mr. Darling, if we take a look at how he's doing near the end of the book, we find him going to and from work in a dog kennel. Ah, yes...grown men in pet taxis. What could be more fun than the "he-didn't-even-try-to-make-this-belivable" silliness of such a scene? To be honest, I don't know if I'd even read books if they all left out fun stuff like this. Other silly parts of the book involve Wendy growing up a day quicker than most girls; the narrator claiming he hates Mrs. Darling only to call her his favorite character a few sentences later; the lost boys asking Wendy to change the characters her story just two sentences into it; the narrator using the phrase "woke into life" because Peter likes the word "woke" more than "wakened;" and my favorite, Captain Hook using a stale cake as a missle and then falling over it in the dark. I believe the novel version of Peter Pan was written after the author had already established Peter Pan as a successful play. That may explain a lot about the colorful narration, which takes many, many literary liberties. We see everything from blatant narrator interference with the characters in the story to the shameless attempt at informing the audience that the narrator only chooses to make the events in the story happen a certain way so certain characters in the book won't be disappointed. Perhaps without these wacky (and maybe even insane) traits in the narration, there'd be no reason to read the book, since it would be no different from the play. After reading the Peter Pan novel though, I'd have to say it almost seems criminal to watch an adaptation of Peter Pan without any wacky narration. Contrary to most adaptations of Peter Pan, the individual lost boys (of where there are six I believe) are actually more developed as characters than John or Michael Darling. Heck, at the end of the book they actually end up moving out of the Neverland to live with the Darlings and grow up to busy themselves in interesting professions. I may not like the actual land of Neverland as much as I like the land of Oz, but Barrie's narration is unbeatable in my opinion. He could probably make a Jeopardy contestant's Friday night schedule sound exciting. I believe Barrie has written another Peter Pan book as well, a prequel of sorts entitled "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens." It should be interesting, particuarly if it addresses what is contained in the dark dreams that haunt Peter throughout this book. Freud would have a field day with such dreams and the whole mother issue. The only thing I expected to see in this book that I didn't see was "happy thoughts." That must have been a creation of Disney.

So many persons have experienced "Peter Pan" as a Broadway musical or as a Disney film that it is easy to overlook how brilliant, fun, and timeless this story is. 100 years from now it will hold up...as it has held up in the last 100 years. What are some of these terrific ideas? - a faerie that can either be all good or all bad, but not both at once - a boy wrapped in leaves who is dangerously courageous but still naive - a shadow that can be attached with a sewing needle - a marvelous dog that acts like a nanny - a mother who arranges a child's thoughts at night - a pirate captain who sings as he plunges his iron claw into his victim - bright stars that wink and whisper. Barrie's tale has both delightfully light and disturbingly dark aspects...perhaps that is part of its universal appeal. And for all the fun of "Peter", he is emotionally scarred from his conviction that he was abandoned by his mother. The scenes of Wendy holding him in her lap when he has nightmares is very touching. Children love "Peter Pan" because of the adventure! The final show down between the Lost Boys/Peter Pan and the Pirates is not to be missed. What I liked about Jim Dale's narration is that he makes you feel he is reading aloud a "bed time" story...maybe something you heard from your father long, long ago. On top of that, he is very good in voicing different accents for the various characters so it is easy to distinguish the many personalities. Even for those who "think" they know Peter Pan, this can be a surprising gift.

Es un libro muy bello y la edición está muy bien cuidada además de que es bellísima. Vale la pena comprarlo.

日本語訳もいいけれど、やはり原本を読んだ方がより味わい深い。 英単語に含まれている意味や、ブラックジョークなどは 原本でなければ分からないかもしれない。 一緒に訳本も買って、読み比べると面白いです。

O livro é perfeito e vale cada centavo gasto. Uma edição belíssima, acabamentos impecáveis e a entrega como sempre, foi impecável

This just arrived in the post today with the Barnes & Noble leather bound edition of King Arthur & I honestly couldn't be more delighted. It is a stunning book. The cover is mint green in colour with a gorgeous illustration of Peter, Wendy, John and Michael flying, in black and silver set against the green. The leather binding and spine are wonderful as are the silver lined pages which really top the look off. It looks fantastic when placed on the bookshelf. As for the story itself, it is captivating. I've read a little of Peter Pan before and adore every movie version I've seen as well as the stage production I saw two years ago. A story of a boy never growing up and living in the wonderful Neverland never gets old and takes me right back to my childhood. Overall an excellent purchase. I can't wait to buy more of the Barnes & Noble leather bound editions - really fantastic design :)

¡Preciosa edición estadounidense americana en inglés hecha e impresa en Los Estados Unidos de América (Nueva York) de Peter Pan con una presentación preciosa de lujo (portada, contraportada, lomo,etc...) y muy suave y cómoda de llevar de bolsillo!. Lo único negativo es que no tiene ninguna ilustración o dibujo pero aún así, ¡compra muy recomendable! . ¡Ha llegado al día siguiente de haberla comprado!. ¡Muy recomendable!. ¡Un 10!.