Peter Pan in Scarlet - Geraldine McCaughrean [Review]

Title: Peter Pan in Scarlet

Author: Geraldine McCaughrean

Genre: Fiction, Middle Grade, Fantasy

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Publishing date: January 1st 2006

Pages: 275

Rating

★★☆☆☆

Hello! Today I’m going to review Peter Pan in Scarlet, which is the official sequel to James Matthew Barrie’s Peter and Wendy.

This book originated from a contest that the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) made. The author gave the copyright rights of Peter Pan to the hospital and they decided to publish a sequel. Geraldine McCaughrean won the competition by sending them some chapters and a full outline of her book.

Peter Pan in Scarlet takes readers back to Neverland, where something is wrong. Dreams are

Another cover of the book.

leaking out - strangely real dreams, of pirates and mermaids, of warpaint and crocodiles. For Wendy and the Lost Boys it is a clear signal - Peter Pan need their help, and so it is time to do the unthinkable and fly to Neverland again.

But back in Neverland, everything has changed - and the dangers they find there are far beyond their dreams...

Okay, first I must say I haven’t read or watched Peter Pan, I know what it is about, but that’s it. Maybe the reason I didn’t enjoy this at all is because I haven’t read the original, or I don’t know, tons of people who love the original say they disliked this sequel.

The book is short and fast paced; the edition I have has small illustrations at the beginning of each chapter and is a red hardcover, so, aesthetically is beautiful.

The start of the story was interesting, light hearted and kind of silly or funny, the old lost boys must return to Neverland, and to do so they must be kids so they dress with their children’s clothes. To be honest this seemed kind of silly to me because there is one of them who has no children, so he wouldn’t be able to go but suddenly he becomes a kid by standing near the bed or something like that. And there is another one that is male and has only daughters and by using their clothes he becomes a girl.

Fanart of Peter and Ravello
 by AnnaKsketch

There is this theme of “clothes make/define the person” along the whole book, starting with what I just said.

I couldn’t connect with the characters, they were two dimensional and annoying at times, I just liked Wendy, she was the only one with common sense, sometimes. I totally hated Peter, he was such a despicable character, mean, cruel and a complete jerk. I couldn’t stand him, thou he was partially interesting, but it didn’t compensate he being a jerk.

I think that during most the book nothing really happens, they all go on adventures and two new characters join them, Ravello, a circus man, and Firefly, a fairy. The build up to the climax of the book took too long, so much that when the revelation happened it wasn’t that spectacular because it took so long for something interesting to happen. I must admit the revelation was an interesting plot twist, but I think I expected more of it.

The end of the book left me with unanswered questions and I felt it was kind of hurried. The writing style is childish; it’s obvious the book is for younger audiences, it’s simple but descriptive enough to let the reader picture the landscapes of Neverland.

If you are a fan of Peter Pan, you might want to give this a try, the fact that it wasn’t for me doesn’t mean it’s bad. I would only recommend it to fans of the original book, it was entertaining and an easy and fast read, but if you are not a fan or the target middle grade audience, you might not enjoy the book that much.