Classic Reading for Kids: Week 3 - Peter Pan

Mymcbooks.wordpress.com and Family Literacy and You are sharing great Children's Classical Literature in September 2011. Each of us are featuring 4 of our favorites through a review of the book and then we are giving it away!


Peter Pan is one of my all-time favorites in Children's literature. The story of a little boy who refuses to grow up, fights pirates and flies could be the story of most little boys who want to play all day, not go to school and think life would be perfect if they could fly and use a sword to battle pirates and have adventures forever.

Peter Pan
by JM Barrie
ISBN: 0694013188
Charming Classics

My Thoughts: Peter Pan is one of those books that you pick up and don't want to put down. On her last night in the family nursery Wendy is told that she will now have a room of her own and that it is time that she grew up. Her mother is a romantic, dreamy sort who to me seemed a little
scatterbrained however from Barrie's description tends to be budget aware like Mr Darling as they are both very poor and trying to live up to the standards of the neighbors - hence Nana the "nurse" (a St Bernard).

The actual story and the introduction of Peter Pan takes place on the last night of Wendy's stay in the nursery. Peter arrives to hear one of her stories (about him of course) and upon hearing of her delemma ends up teaching Wendy and her brothers, John and Michael, how to fly and then takes them to Neverland.

As the story goes on you meet "The Lost Boys", Hook the Pirate, a tribe of Indians and many more characters. There are parts of the book that of course never made it in the movies - it would be much too long if they did. As always I strongly encourage parents to read the classics (the original if your kids will listen to them). Disney doesn't tend to stay on script and much of the story is left out. Your kid's should definitely hear the story in it's entirety.

Suggestion: After you read a book like Peter Pan or Heidi get the older versions of the movies and watch those. The atmosphere in the movies tends to match the books tone so much closer, instead of "magically" transforming the story into a lot of "flash" and "sparkle". You can then hold mock battles (with sticks, not swords), go visit the humane soceity and volunteer as a family and maybe even have a campout in the backyard - or the family room floor if it's too cold.

Debuted in 1904 as a play, Peter Pan is loosely based on the Llewelyn Davies children and the stories he told the children. After the death of their mother, JM Barrie became their co-guardian and unofficially adopted them. The novel was first published in 1911 and the script and the novel have been continuously revised ever since.

Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, was born in Scotland in 1860 to a family of weavers. He was educated in Scotland and after moving to London became a novelist and playwright. Peter Pan was first released as a play and later it became a novel. You can learn more about JM Barrie & Peter Pan here and here.

This week, Ella on Mymcbooks.wordpress.com is featuring A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. You can read her review here and enter the giveaway if you'd like. If you enter her giveaway be sure to come back and tell me about it on the Rafflecopter Giveaway below. (You do need to do the mandatory entries first if you want to enter my giveaway for Peter Pan). Thanks!

I am giving away a copy of Peter Pan and this one also comes with a really cute necklace (top of page). Hopefully it will still be available when I do the drawing next Sunday =D I found the book on AtomicMall.com for $6.95 and it looks like there are 5 copies (for now).