Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Peter Pan is the infamous story of the boy that never grew up and so naturally you would think that this book contained a jolly, childlike wonder to it wouldn’t you? If you did just as I did when I started this book then you would be wrong. In my opinion Peter Pan focuses on all the negatives of being a child.

The children are often subjected to ‘make-believe meals’ which even as I child I’m not sure that I would find the upside to. There is also the obligatory smattering of sexism with Wendy being the mother and a girl and therefore taking on all of the domestic chores, such as the mending and the sewing. Whereas the Lost Boys as boys are able to build a house for the Neverland family.

The narrative voice I found incredibly irritating and I was always left with the impression that I was only getting half the story. There is so much time taken to comment that ‘that’s a different story’ and ‘there was that time, but we don’t have time to talk about it now...’ instead of actually a good solid amount of adventure. Sadly, the story seemed to be lacking in adventure. There is of course the overarching adventure of the children flying from their home in London to Neverland, but once there it all seems quite domestic. I felt as though Barrie’s efforts might have been better spent focusing on the time in Neverland instead of the long introduction of the Darling family which I fail to see much purpose for.

Captain Hook is an incredibly interesting character and one that I would be interested to read more about. In fact a lot of the characters were fascinating such Smee, Tiger Lily, and all of the Lost Boys who had an abundance of personality. It was them that seemed much more fleshed out than the Darling family and even Peter himself. It's a shame that the secondary characters weren't made more use of as they really captured my attention in a way that the protaganists failed to do.

The characters that I was less interested in, like Peter Pan and Tinker Bell are often thought to be popular because they have been made quite popular by Disney. I grew up on Disney and I am always shocked by the differences between the Disneyfication of classic children’s stories and the originals. I always expect slight plot changes and tweaks in character and such, but it always the feel of the story that is the most significant difference for me. It was that that is most shocking for me when it comes to Peter Pan. I felt that I didn’t want to be a child if it meant being like Peter Pan. Being in Neverland almost felt more like an imprisonment than an adventure at the end. Wendy, John and Michael all forget about their previous lives and struggle to remember who their parents are. A blessing for some I'm sure, but not what I would have wanted as a child.

Barrie also includes the Darling parents in the narrative throughout the story and so as readers we can see the effect that Peter’s actions are having on them. As an adult I felt deeply for the parents whose children went missing and living in modern times the idea that Peter Pan had kidnapped these children didn’t sit well with me. Obviously this is very much me reading this book in a contemporary context and therefore it is unlikely that this is what Barrie intended and yet I still cannot view Peter Pan as a hero.  

I am discovering on my journey through children’s literature that books for children are often dark in some way and don’t tend to shy away from the harsher side of life. In Peter Pan the darkness comes not only from the pain and suffering that is portrayed in the Darling family, but also in the murder of Hook and his entire crew. Unlike in the Disney film Peter is actually responsible for the demise of his arch-nemesis.

I felt that the book failed to live up to it’s reputation and this may be one of those books that really needs to be read as a child for the meaning and magic to still be there. Sadly, I did not feel as though as an adult there was much that I could get from this book or in fact that it had much to teach me either as a child or as a grown-up.

Rating: ★★

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum | Adventures in Oz #1

This is another of those children's books that I never read when I was a child. I suppose I thought that I had because I had watched the film a lot, but it seems that 'somewhere over the rainbow' isn't actually in the book. Though this is a pity as it is a brilliant song, I have to say that next to nothing disappointed me about this book.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz tells the story of Dorothy and her dog Toto who are caught up in a tornado one day in their home of Kansas and transported to the magical world of Oz. During their landing into Oz the house that they were travelling in accidentally lands on the Wicked Witch of the East and kills her, much to the relief of the inhabitants.

The first thing that I noticed about this novel were the differences in plot from the 1939 film. The witch of the North is in fact quite an old lady, not the glamourpuss of the '39 film and the ruby slippers are silver! After realising both those things I quickly got rid of the picture of Judy Garland in my head and began to picture Dorothy as she was in the book: a child.

This book was actually quite dark for what I had expected of a children's story including several instances of murder and cruelty. There was a giant spider, rabid wolves, killer bees and enslaved flying monkeys! I liked that Baum didn't shiy away from things such as this in his book and fully embraces them. The feeling of genuine danger makes for a quick pace and great atmosphere. As a reader you feel as though that you don't know what is going to happen next which exactly what is needed from a good adventure.

I think the overall moral of the story, that the power is within you to achieve what ever it is that you want, whether it be feeling as though you have brains, a heart etc, is within you at all times was both engaging and uplifting. It was a very empowering message and one that I thought was demonstrated enormously well.

The theme of 'home' is also something that was explored well in this novel. Of course Dorothy wants to get back Kansas, but she isn't the only one looking to get home. It seems that everyone is searching for a place to belong or are looking to reclaim the place that they once called home. The way in which all of Dorothy's party all ended up finding a place of their own was very organic and at times quite subtle so that it isn't until the end that you realise it has all worked out for the best.

This book is where my knowledge of the Land of Oz ends, but knowing that there are 12 canonical texts makes me so happy. Unfortunately I don't have the second story in my possession nor does my local library have it so I'm bumping that one up to the top of my wish list.

Rating: ★★★★

Next in series: The Marvellous Land of Oz

Bedknobs and Broomsticks by Mary Norton

When I was younger I remember watching the Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks with Angela Lansbury so many times that I could quote it word for word. I had no idea that it was in fact based on a book. I stumbled across that book whilst doing a stock check at the school library and vowed then and there to read it as soon as possible.

Mary Norton's book was originally published as two stories, The Magic Bed Knob (1943) and Bonfires and Broomsticks (1945). They began to be printed together in 1957. This is fairly obvious in the reprint that I read from, but it really wasn't a problem other than the second story took place a few years after the first one which surprised me a little. 

The book is very different from the film version and is not about three evacuees from London. This is the story of Carey, Charles and Paul who one day during their visit to their Aunt Beatrice meet a witch. One of the things that struck me straight away was how prominent the character of Carey was. In the film it is her brother Charles who is the one taking charge, but in the book it was very much the big sister Carey who took on that role. I was very pleased at this change because it was nice to see a brave and adventurous female character in a children's book. 

It surprised me to find that far from the Eastenders that film version portrayed the children to be, the family in the original novel are really quite posh. It makes perfect sense to me as who else goes to stay with their wealthy aunt other than the offspring of the well-to-do? I still prefer Disney's interpretation though.

That is really where the positive and the plain observations end. There were so many problems with this book that once I'd put it down I only picked it up again out of morbid curiosity. Miss Price was not the lovable witch that I imagined her to be. She comments at the beginning of the first story that she struggles to be wicked and thus showing that she wants to be! That I could cope with, but on top of this she just wasn't funny. In fact the whole book seemed to be devoid of humour.

In addition to this, one of the adventures that the children go on is a trip to the island of Ueepe. This is not the cartoon character inhabited island of the film, it is just a lovely South Pacific island. This I understood as it seemed perfectly reasonable to me that children want to visit the beach. The problems arise when the children and Miss Price are about to leave the island and are captured by cannibals. I found this part of the plot to be unimaginative and racist. Of all the troubles that could be encountered on an island, (and there are many as I discovered from On The Island) violent and barbaric indigenous people were not what I thought was appropriate or entertaining.

To be perfectly honest I was disappointed with the whole of the plot. The second of the stories was actually a better formed story than the first, but I still found the ending to be poor. Miss Price was, however, more likeable in the second of the two stories until she gives up her life to disappear into the 17th century with a man she barely knows. I lost all respect for her at that point, but this didn't matter much as it ended the novel. I suppose we should assume that Carey, Charles and Paul went on to live rather ordinary lives afterwards.

To sum up, I was very disappointed with this book for two main reasons. It had next to nothing in common with the film of my childhood. The second and most important of the reasons is that it was just a very boring book with a few characters that were quite unremarkable. I found it to be a chore to finish and not at all a joy to read.

Rating: ★

The Magician's Nephew by C.S Lewis | The Chronicles of Narnia #1

This is the story of Diggory Kirke whose Mother is sick and so has been sent to live with his strange Aunt Letty and Uncle Andrew in London. Whilst in London he meets Polly, his next door neighbour and one day on one of their adventures they end up in Uncle Andrew's mysterious room on the top floor of the house. Once there, Uncle Andrew tricks the children into touching magical yellow rings that take them to another world. This world is in actual fact The Wood between the Worlds and from here the children travel to a world that is nearing the end of it's life span and to a world beginning it's life named Narnia. 

There was a quite a bit of misogyny at the beginning of the book which was quite distracting. Diggory made repeated comments about Polly's being a girl. The suggestion was often that she was too emotional and not very brave because she was a girl. The character of Uncle Andrew also made similar comments and I found this distracting and frustrating. I know that this book is set in the early 20th century, but it was published in 1955 and is history really an excuse for sexism? I think not, but perhaps this is best left for another post. Suffice to say it was a sticking point for me. 

Having said that, overall the first half of this book was so much better than the second half. At the beginning the plot was very much a fun, exciting fantasy adventure. I loved the concept of The Wood Between Worlds which is filled with so much possibility. The trip into the dying world was good, but not as creative as I had imagined. When compared to Neverland, The Land of Oz and even to an extent Narnia, this world isn't really anything special. In fact the only difference I can see to Medieval England is that the people are somewhat bigger and there is magic. I think the magic in this world may have been Lewis' dig at sorcery of that age, but that could just be me reading too much into it. 

Another thing that I took issue with in this book was the character of Uncle Andrew. He was creepy and unfeeling. The part of the book where he is trying to entice the children to touch the magic rings is uncomfortable to read and I just don't feel that his character makes sense. I understand that a boy may have become obsessed with magic, but then why is he so reluctant to travel to the other world himself? The character himself protests that it is his age, but that is really a poor excuse. Furthermore, at the end of the book we learn that Andrew is taken back into the bosom of the family even after his cruel and reckless actions of sending two children to an unknown world. Where is his comeuppance? Why would such a theologically Christian book in it's plot allow such sins to go unchallenged? 

The second half of the book was just poor. The book is marketed as the first book in the Narnia series and yet the book seems to assume that you already have knowledge of the events that have already occurred in Narnia. Moreover the birth of the land itself was not as useful as you might think. I'm not sure that it makes any difference how the world began and I fail to see how it adds to the lore of the world in any way. Even with the second half of the book being the Genesis of the land of Narnia, it still failed to answer questions such as why humans are referred to as Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve. Now living in the West it is quite easy to read the blatant Christian theme happening there and of course there are hundreds of parallels with this story and those in the book of Genesis in the Christian Bible, but really what does that have to do with a nice children's story? Why is Alsan-Jesus a lion? Who made him the boss?

Frankly I find this book to be wholly unnecessary to the Chronicles of Narnia and a complete indulgence on Lewis' part. If you are looking for an allegorical version of the story of Christian/Jewish creation then this is the book for you. If you are looking for a high fantasy children's novel, save yourself a couple of hours and skip this one.

Rating: ★★

Next in series: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe