Peter Pan

About the Author Name: James Matthew Barrie Born: 9 May 1860 in Kirriemuir, Scotland Books and Plays: The Little Minster (1891) The Little White Bird (1902) Peter Pan – the play (1904) Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (a novel: 1906) Peter Pan and Wendy – the novel (1911) Awards: Title of ‘Sir’ in 1913 Dies: 26 June 1937

The Darling Family

The story you are reading starts in London in the early 1900s. London is a wonderful city and it is the capital of the United Kingdom. Today, almost 8 million people live there. London is a very green city. There are more than 300 parks! Hyde Park is a very big park with more than 4,000 trees. You can go biking in the park or you can ride a boat on the Serpentine Lake. In the summer there are music concerts in the park. [...]

Everything is dark and silent in the nursery. Wendy, John and Michael are sleeping and dreaming. Outside the nursery window there is a small ball of light. The nursery window is open. Suddenly, the small ball of light comes into the nursery through the window and flies around. It is a fairy called Tinker Bell. She is very small and lovely. She is looking for something inside the nursery. [...]

Neverland

People all over the world have stories about fairies and their magic. Some of these stories are very old and some of them are called fairy tales. Fairies are part of the British, Irish, northern European and old cultures. In Peter Pan, Tinker Bell is Peter’s fairy. Peter says that the fairies in Neverland are his good friends. In Pinocchio, there is a kind fairy called the Blue Fairy. She always helps Pinocchio. [...]

Peter, Wendy, John, Michael and the Lost Boys often go to the Mermaids’ Lagoon. The water is blue and beautiful. They like swimming and playing in the blue lagoon. Beautiful mermaids live here, and they are Peter’s friends. They have got long hair and are very pretty. They play mermaid games, and then sit on Marooners’ Rock and comb their long hair. They sit in the sun and talk and laugh. [...]

A Secret Place

In London there is a hospital for sick children called Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. J. M. Barrie likes children very much. He wants children to be well and happy. He often visits this hospital because he wants to help the children. Barrie is a kind man. In 1929, he decides to give all the money from the book sales, films and theatre plays of Peter Pan to the hospital. And this continues today. [...]

The Pirate Ship

Back in London

What does the Darling home in London look like? It is a comfortable home with a nice garden. On the ground floor there is a dining room. The family has its meals here. There is a long table with a lot of chairs around it. There are also pictures on the walls. On the ground floor there is also a large sitting room, with a big sofa and comfortable chairs. People sit here in the evening and read or talk. They also listen to music. [...]

The wonderful story of Peter Pan is the subject of a lot of films. The first and maybe the most famous is the cartoon produced by Walt Disney. More recently, Steven Spielberg produced Hook, with the famous actor, Dustin Hoffmann, starring as the cruel captain. The movie Finding Neverland is a very original story that talks about the characters of the story and also about Matthew Barrie. [...]

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