Peter Pan

Peter Pan; or Peter and Wendy or, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up stands as the most renowned creation of Scottish writer James Matthew Barrie. Initially staged as a play in 1904, it was later published as a novel in 1911, chronicling the fantastical escapades of Peter Pan in the Land of Neverland, accompanied by Wendy Darling and her companions.

Neverland, a fictional island, serves as the backdrop where children remain perpetually young, alongside elves, pirates, Indians, and mermaids. Here, belief holds the power to bring imagination to life.

While the original version of the play sees rare performances in the United Kingdom, Christmas pantomimes are a common occurrence. In the United States, Broadway presented a musical adaptation faithful to the original book in 1954, quickly gaining popularity through television broadcasts.

Recommended for: Readers of all ages who enjoy classic children’s literature, fantasy fiction, and timeless stories of adventure, magic, and the power of imagination. This beloved tale by J.M. Barrie offers a charming and whimsical exploration of childhood, the desire to never grow up, and the extraordinary world of Neverland.

You will:

Discover the captivating story of Peter Pan, the mischievous and carefree boy who can fly and refuses to age, and his encounters with the Darling children – Wendy, John, and Michael.
Immerse yourself in the fantastical world of Neverland, filled with pirates, mermaids, fairies, and other enchanting characters and creatures.
Witness the themes of childhood, imagination, and the bittersweet nature of growing up as Peter Pan and the Darling children navigate the thrilling adventures and perils of Neverland.
Appreciate the timeless appeal of Barrie’s enchanting prose, which blends whimsy, humor, and poignant reflections on the human experience.
Explore the enduring popularity and cultural impact of the Peter Pan story, which has inspired numerous adaptations across literature, theater, film, and other media.
Develop a deeper understanding of the power of storytelling and the enduring appeal of childhood dreams and fantasies.
Engage with the themes of innocence, freedom, and the complexities of growing up that have resonated with readers of all ages for over a century.

Plot

The Darling family lives in London. The family members are Mr. George Darling, Mrs. Mary Darling, and their three children, Wendy, Michael, and John. Their nanny called Nana is a dog. Peter Pan meets Mrs. Mary while she was sleeping, he flies through the window and wakes her up. She screams scared, alerting Nana and who finally chases Peter out the window. But, Nana has bitten off his shadow, which Mrs. Darling stores in a drawer.

On a Friday evening, the parents attend a party. Peter Pan wants his shadow back, so he flies in again through the window accompanied by the small fairy Tinker Bell. He finds his shadow and tries to stick it back with soap, which does not work. Then he starts to cry, waking Wendy up. Peter Pan likes to hear from the window Wendy’s bedtime stories, so he asks her to go together with him to Neverland, an island where one will never grow up. There he lives with the “lost boys.”

Wendy agrees to go with him but asks her brothers to come along. Peter Pan pollinates them all with fairy dust, and they fly to Neverland. During their stay on the island, they live exciting and dangerous adventures.

Licensing

J.M. Barrie. Peter Pan. Publisher: Charles Scribner’s Sons (New York), 1928. Originally published in 1904. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1928, before the cutoff of January 1, 1929. The longest-living author of this work died in 1937, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 86 years or less. Text from Wikisource: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Peter_Pan;_or,_the_Boy_Who_Would_Not_Grow_Up
This digital edition is provided by Ebooks-net in 2024 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license. The full text of the license is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.