Peter Pan

The beloved classic tale of a boy who refuses to grow up, the three children he befriends, and their magical adventures in Neverland.

“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.”—J. B. Priestley

Everything changes for the Darling children the night Peter Pan flies into their nursery. Wendy, Michael, and John Darling are swept away to a magical land where mermaids swim freely, pirates hunt for treasure, and children never grow up. Together with the fairy Tinker Bell and the Lost Boys, they battle with the fearsome Captain Hook. But Wendy and her brothers, once delighted by the magical land, long for the comfort of their English home.

Considered a masterpiece since its first appearance on stage in 1904, Peter Pan is J. M. Barrie’s most famous work and arguably the greatest of all children’s stories. While it is a wonderful fantasy for the young, Peter Pan, particularly in the novel form Barrie published in 1911, says something important to all of us.

Here “the boy who wouldn’t grow up” and his adventures evoke a deep emotional response as they give form to our feelings about parents, boys and girls, the unknown, freedom, and responsibility. Humorous, satiric, filled with suspenseful cliff-hangers and bittersweet truths, Peter Pan works an indisputable magic on readers of all ages, making it a true classic of imaginative literature.