Kernel's Library: The Boy Who Will Never Grow Old

Book 00059: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

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Title:
- Peter Pan
- Peter and Wendy

First Publication:
- 11 October 1911 by Charles Scribner's Sons

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Trivia:
- The original book contains a frontispiece and 11 half-tone plates by artist F. D. Bedford.
- Peter and Wendy is published today as Peter Pan and Wendy or simply Peter Pan.
- The tale of Peter Pan has remained popular among children and adults since its first publication and has taken its place as an unquestioned piece of classic theater and literature.

Award:
- Waterstones The Nation's Favourite Children's Books (1997, No 62)
- Many others

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I always liked Peter Pan even as a child. It makes me wonder of the possibilities if I could fly around and never to worry about growing old. Would it be all fun and exciting, where there will be no boring moments? As a child, I learned of pirates, mermaids, Indians and fairies because of Peter Pan. The naivete of the impish boy will surely bring you back to your younger years. Never mind the dangers of fighting bad pirates and the veracious crocodile, just experience all the fun of being a youngster again.

Excerpt

Chapter One
Peter Breaks Through

All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, “Oh, why can’t you remain like this for This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.

Of course they lived at 14, and until Wendy came her mother was the chief one. She was a lovely lady, with a romantic mind and such a sweet mocking mouth. Her romantic mind was like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from the puzzling East, however many you discover there is always one more; and her sweet mocking mouth had one kiss on it that Wendy could never get, though there it was, perfectly conspicuous in the right-hand corner.

The way Mr Darling won her was this: the many gentlemen who had been boys when she was a girl discovered simultaneously that they loved her, and they all ran to her house to propose to her except Mr Darling, who took a cab and nipped in first, and so he got her. He got all of her, except the innermost box and the kiss. He never knew about the box, and in time he gave up trying for the kiss. Wendy thought Napoleon could have got it, but I can picture him trying, and then going off in a passion, slamming the door.

Mr Darling used to boast to Wendy that her mother not only loved him but respected him. He was one of those deep ones who know about stocks and shares. Of course no one really knows, but he quite seemed to know, and he often said stocks were up and shares were down in a way that would have made any woman respect him.

I'd like to read this book once again, because I need to rekindle my innocence. There is nothing more wonderful than having to experience life as a child: everything is new and nothing seems to be unlikeable...

Grade: A+