Peter and Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

This delightful book seeks to set the record straight about Peter Pan’s origins. Peter, a young boy living in an awful orphanage in England, is sent with several younger boys to the ramshackle ship, the Never Land. The cruel first mate tells them that they are being sent to King Zarboff the Third's court to work as servants, since he and his man-eating snake go through servants so quickly. Once aboard, Peter snoops around for more edible food and meets Molly, the aristocratic young girl who becomes his friend. It is through her that Peter learns about “starstuff” and the noble “Starcatchers.” The mysterious starstuff falls from the sky periodically and gives strange powers, including the power of flight. Obviously, dishonest people can become dangerous if they get their hands on it, so a group of guardians called Starcatchers formed to find and dispose of the starstuff. A large trunk of it somehow got on the Never Land, and now the infamous pirate Black Stache is after them!

This book is tons of fun, as one would expect from the humorist Dave Barry. I’d not previously read Ridley Pearson’s books, but he is a popular adult writer. The twists and turns that explain the origins of many of Barrie’s fantastic features such as the mermaids and, of course, the fearsome crocodile are inventive, and a reader familiar with Barrie’s work will have some satisfying “Oh, yeah, I think I know where this is going” moments, though the overall story is not predictable. This is a great book that is appropriate for the whole family, and would make a great read-aloud.