If anyone out there has seen the Disney film version of Peter Pan, or perhaps even a stage play of the story; they might think they know the real story behind the boy who never grew up. Well, guess what? They don’t. Peter pan in Kensington Gardens was the original first collection of tales about Peter Pan, and it tells a very different story than I was expecting.
The story not so much revolves around Peter Pan and his adventures, but around the magic within Kensington Gardens, a small park just beside Hyde Park in London. There are Fairies, and magical trees, and talking birds and all sorts of exciting things in the park to explore. But the most enthralling part of this tale is the adventure of Peter Pan and how he came to live in Kensington Gardens by flying from his mothers window sill at 1 week old to rejoin his bird brethren. You see, in this tale all children start out as birds. And by returning to the Gardens Peter becomes neither a human nor a bird. He is a betwixt-and-between. And his adventure is only begun.
I really enjoyed this story, although it is written rather haphazardly. J.M Barrie, who it appears wrote this book with the aid of either his son or his grandson David, is very fond of jumping from one tale to the next. We’ve quite often only just begun an interesting plotline when, we are suddenly involved in another tangent. There is little or no narrative structure in this tale; but then again it is written for children. And as we all know, children think in tangents. I would guess that this book would very much appeal to a younger reader, were the language not so archaic. That’s not to say it isn’t pretty, in fact the story reads quickly and beautifully. Very fitting for a Fairy Tale. In the end I want more to keep my interest as an adult reader. But for what it is, this book delivers nicely.
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