I was looking forward to reading this book as the original Peter Pan story is legendary, providing us with well known and much loved characters. It was always going to be difficult to follow up such a widely regarded novel 100 years after it was published! As the Description says:
In August 2004, the Special Trustees of Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital launched the search for a sequel to JM Barrie’s timeless masterpiece, Peter Pan. The Special Trustees own the copyright and other intellectual property rights to Peter Pan, and to mark the work’s centenary, they authorized the creation of a new work that would share the same enchanting characters as the original, and bring as much pleasure to children and adults universally as Peter Pan has done. Fighting off fierce competition from over 100 other writers, Geraldine McCaughrean has been commissioned to write this official sequel. In her entry, the judges found something that captured the elusive spirit of the original whilst offering a fresh and astounding creative response. Like Barrie’s story, it will appeal to readers the world over.
Well, credit where it’s due, this book is a very good effort at staying true to Barrie’s original characters while providing a brand new adventure. The writing is fast paced and very matter-of-fact, telling the story succinctly without the need for detailed and drawn out description. This is similar to the original book and makes it feel like a true sequel while also being a great advantage for children who will understand clearly. That is not to say that adults won’t enjoy it either. There are the same brief references to wider themes (such as “The Great War”) that Barrie inserted into the original plus love, loss and friendship are equally measured out through the simple, childish narrative that Pan perpetuates.
Story wise the adventure is both creative and familiar, introducing us to new characters and landscapes while retaining enough of the recognisable to be comfortable. A grown-up Wendy and the Lost Boys head back to Neverland after dreams of pirates, crocodiles and such leak into the real world, only to find that Neverland has changed…
Initially, I had to remind myself that this novel does not have any continuity with the brilliant movie Hook, so had to forget about a grown-up Robin-Williams-shaped-Pan and pretend it never happened! Once I’d clarified the chronology (Scarlet is set around 20 years after the original) I was hooked! (*ahem, sorry*)
Perhaps my biggest praise of this book is how it manages to build and expand upon the original, adding explanation, insight and development, without ever changing or discrediting anything that had gone before (it even hints towards Peter’s own history by looking from a different perspective). For that reason, Peter Pan In Scarlet truly deserves to be the Official Sequel.
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