Peter Pan

Peter Pan was a character first introduced to the public in Scottish playwright and author J.M. Barrie's 1902 novel The Little White Bird.http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553211788 However, the character first came into existence in the stories Barrie told the sons of Mrs. Sylvia Llewelyn Davies.http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553211788 Barrie's relationship with the Davies family is the subject of the 2004 film Finding Neverland, starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet as Barrie and Davies respectively.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308644

In 1904 Barrie wrote the play of Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, which he later published in 1911 as a book entitled Peter and Wendy.http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553211788 Barrie died in 1937, leaving Peter Pan's copyright to the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, a hospital for children.http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553211788

Mrs. Darling worries about leaving her children Wendy, Michael, and John behind one evening as she and her husband head out for a party. A few nights earlier, she caught a boy peering into the window. In his haste to escape, she was able to catch his shadow, which she has put away in a drawer.

Once the Darling parents have left, the boy, Peter Pan, flies into the nursery through the window, accompanied by his fairy friend, Tinkerbell. Together they find his shadow, but Peter is unsuccessful in reattaching it to himself. Wendy is awoken by his crying out of frustration and sews his shadow back to him. He explains that he lives with a band of boys, called the Lost Boys, who wait for him to return with the stories he hears from eavesdropping on Wendy and her brothers in their nursery. He invites Wendy to join him in Neverland, a place where children never have to grow up. He explains that they will have to fly there and then demonstrates that children can fly with the help of a fairy substance called pixie dust. Wendy and her brothers join him.

Tinkerbell is jealous of Peter's interest in Wendy and unsuccessfully tries to have the Lost Boys kill her. As a result, Peter banishes Tinkerbell from his home. The Lost Boys build Wendy a house. Meanwhile, Peter Pan's nemesis, the pirate Captain Hook, stalks Peter and the Lost Boys. Hook has never forgiven Peter for cutting off his hand and feeding it to a crocodile that continues to stalk him. He tries to poison Peter and the boys with a cake, but Wendy acts as a mother and does not allow them to eat it.

Peter introduces Wendy to the mermaids, who try to drown her. He then sees that Captain Hook has kidnapped the Indian Tigerlily and plans to have her killed. Peter Pan rescues Tigerlily and as a result, the Indians swear their loyalty to him.

Wendy and her brothers become homesick and the three convince the Lost Boys to return with them to England and grow up. Peter is the only one who refuses to join. But when the children leaves Peter's lair, they are ambushed by Hook and his men. Captain Hook leaves poison behind for Peter. Tinkerbell drinks the poison in order to rescue Peter and he must plead for children to believe in fairies in order to restore her health. She then tells him about the fate of Wendy and his Lost Boys.

Peter rescues Wendy and the boys from the pirates and defeats Hook. Wendy makes Peter promise he will return for her from time to time, and she and her brothers and the Lost Boys return to England. The Darling parents are ecstatic about the return of their children and they agree to adopt the Lost Boys.

At the end of the story, Peter returns after a long time of forgetting to visit Wendy. Wendy has grown up and married and now has a daughter. At first, Peter is saddened by the loss of his childhood friend to adulthood. Then he invites Wendy's daughter Jane to join him and they leave for Neverland, with Wendy watching from the nursery, unable to go too.

J.B. Priestley (English novelist, playwright, broadcaster): Barrie wrote his fantasy of childhood, added another figure to our enduring literature, and thereby undoubtedly made one of the boldest bids for immortality of any writer ... It is a masterpiece.http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553211788