Lost Boy: The Story of the Man Who Created Peter Pan

Lost boy:  The Story of the Man Who Created Peter Pan, by Jane Yolen, is a story I wish I had read as a child.  As an adult, it pulls at some nostalgic heartstrings.  I can’t help but wonder, though, would I have felt the same way as a child?  I mean, it is a picture book aimed towards children, so I wanted to read this book with the questioning mindset of who exactly would enjoy it?  I admit I’ve never read Peter Pan, but remember loving the movie as a child.  I also enjoyed the movie “Finding Neverland” with Johnny Depp, and some of the story is familiar to me because of that movie.

                This story takes the trajectory of a typical biography.  Birth, early childhood, early childhood trauma, growing up, struggles, success, legacy.  I found the events of his life leading up to the creation of Peter Pan relatively boring.  I kept wanting to see how it came about. JUST TELL ME HOW THE MAN INVENTED NEVERLAND ALREADY!!! Throughout the story, Jane Yolen used J.M. Barrie’s own words from his books and plays.  I have to say it was my favorite aspect.  I like reading about how J.M Barrie was only 5 foot tall as an adult, just to be met with the words from The Little Minister, “’It’s a pity I’m so little, Mother.’” He said with a sigh.”  Each quote fits perfectly with whatever was happening on the page.  It made me feel like I was seeing Barrie write himself into his work like I had never understood before.

                The genesis of Peter Pan doesn’t start until over halfway through the book.  It tells of how Jamie came to be friends with the Llewelyn Davis family, as well as a sort of playmate and mentor to the 5 boys, and based the story off his friendship with them.  This section gives my favorite line from the entire book, a quote by Jamie Barrie himself:  “’I always knew that I made Peter by rubbing the five of you violently together, as savages with two sticks produce a flame.’”  The “five of you” of course refers to the 5 young Llewelyn Davis boys.  There are also some facts I had never known, like how the agent insisted the role of Peter be played by an actress, and that the play was kept such a secret that many of the actors only knew the scenes in which they had lines.    

                One thing that really surprised me about the story is the lack of end notes or author notes at the end.  One of my favorite things about nonfiction books is when the author gives me all the information that didn’t make it into the book, and more importantly, why they chose to write this book.  I can’t help but wonder what made Jane Yolen, of Owl Moon and The Devil’s Arithmetic fame, choose to write this book?  I’m sure I could scour the internet and find it, but I always love to get to the end of the book and find out about some chance encounter or lifelong passion that made a writer choose their topic.  And additional information about the person is always appreciated.  Sometimes, it’s actually the best part of the whole story.  I really missed that in this book.

                Bottom Line:   Did I like it?  Yes, I’d give it 4 out of 5 stars.  Do I think children will like it?  Yes, but there’s a specific audience for this book.  To start, it is definitely a story aimed towards older children.  I don’t think I would read this to a child before 3^rd grade unless that child had an obsession of some sort with Peter Pan.  I do think that children who have seen the movie or read the book will find it fascinating to know where it began.  If a teacher read Peter Pan to her students, this would be a fantastic end-of-unit story to show how writers get their ideas.    Come to think of it, I think it’s appropriate, actually, that I like this story so much as an adult.  I mean, Peter Pan is all about never really growing up, after all.

 The Basics:

Title:  Lost Boy:  The Story of the Man Who Created Peter Pan

Author:  Jane Yolen

Illustrator:  Steve Adams

Publisher/Publishing Date: Dutton Children's Books, 2010

 

                Full disclosure:  I have blogged about books before, mainly for a children’s literature course.  In the midst of teaching, tutoring, volunteering, and all the other hoopla associated with adulthood, I fell out of it.  Over the past several months, I’ve made writing my priority again.  I recently finished writing a picture book that is a biography aimed towards older students (4^th grade and above).  I wanted to read more books like what I had written, and to think critically about them, so that I could think critically about my own work.