Tommy Karr

After seeing the Broadway adaptation I was hungry to check out the source material. Happily, I was as pleased as pirates plundering a’plenty with both. The book, Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, supposes what might have been the origins of the mythic boy and other favorite characters from J. M. Barrie’s classic children’s stories. While this origin story isn’t considered cannon to Barrie’s, it is a grand, swashbuckling adventure somewhere between the styles of The Graveyard Book and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Here we find Peter, a frightened orphan, sent on a ship with other orphan boys, to serve as slaves to the King of Rudoon. Luckily (or not, depending on your perception at the moment) their ship is sought after by Black “Stache” the pirate which hurls them into an epic adventure across the seas. Not to mention “something” on board being watched over by a teenage girl with brilliant green eyes and suspicious skills. As the action unfolds, friendships are forged, magic manifests itself and spoilers are revealed leading to a slight cliffhanger which undoubtedly finds itself into the next several books in the series.

I love the idea of giving a new background to an old tale, much like Gregory Maguire did with Wicked. If you enjoy learning more about the characters you loved, pick up Peter and the Starcatchers and then get yourself to the Brooks Atkinson Theatre and see Peter and the Starcatcher on Broadway.

Visit GoodReads.com to read this and other book reviews.