Publisher: Super Genius
Release Date: July 18, 2017
Price: $12.99
Creator(s): Melissa Jane Osborne (writer); Veronica Fish (artist)
Format: 96 pgs., Limited Color, 6"x9", Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-6299-1769-6
Age Rating: 12+
ICv2 Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
It is difficult to re-invent a story as iconic as Peter Pan, but this book manages it. By making it a modern story told from the viewpoint of a Wendy who very much prefers the real world, it alters the meaning of the story.
The story begins with a traffic accident, after which younger brother Michael disappears. Wendy sees him apparently fly off into the sky, but no one believes that he isn’t dead, even though Michael’s body is not found. That’s just the beginning of the story.
As it progresses, a real-world boy who is as timeless and thoughtless as Peter interacts with Wendy, leading to a really clever parallel story, as Wendy tries to rescue her brother from a world that might not really exist, and is based on an endless "today" with no sense of "tomorrow."
The resolution is very emotional and quite powerful.
The artwork will not appeal to everyone, but actually works very well in telling this story. Words weave around some of the images in a fascinating way, but in some cases the style is jarring. As a result, the artwork may not sell the book, but really does tell the story nicely.
The story is best suited for middle-school and up, due to some of the subject matter and the maturity of the story’s themes.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.