Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Recently, over Christmas break actually, I read a book about Peter Pan and how he came to be. In the book Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter is an orphan boy living at St. Norbert’s Home for Wayward Boys. Peter is the oldest of all of the boys living there, and is among the number of boys that are being shipped off to be servants to King Zarboff the Third. But strange things happen on the ship on their way to the country of Rundoon, where King Zarboff the Third rules. Before the ship casts away, two sailors carry aboard a large, mysterious chest. Whenever anyone touches the box itself, they are extremely happy, relaxed and pain free. First, he felt it: a warmth, starting in his hands, but moving quickly up his arms and down his back and into his legs, and everywhere that warmth went, it was…wonderful. Like stepping into a bath. In an instant the pain in his bent old spine, the throbbing pain he had lived with since almost his first day at the dock, was gone. So was the aching weariness in his legs. Gone!

But there was more. There was a…smell. It was flowers. New grass in a meadow right after a spring rain. A fresh orange being peeled. It was cinnamon and honey, and bread just baked and pulled from the oven. And another smell even more wonderful than the others, though Alf couldn’t place it. Like nighttime, he thought. Why did the box make Alf feel so amazing? Was it something in the box, or the box itself?

My favorite characters in Peter and the Starcatchers are Peter and Molly. They are both fearless and have big secrets they are trying to keep from everyone else. They also have big plans, though their plans become compromised and they must find their way out of a horrible situation that their secrets got them into.

This book is amazingly well written and illustrated. It has a vivid plot and hilarious dialogue. Peter and the Starcatchers is one of my all time favorite books. Kirkus Reviews says, “A compulsively readable prequel to Peter Pan. Readers will come away satisfied.”

This book has not received any awards. Other books that Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson co-authored are: Peter and the Shadow Thieves Peter and the Secret of Roondun and Peter and the Sword of Mercy. The recommended reading level for this book is Young Adults.

In my opinion, this book is similar to Peter Pan, though Peter and the Starcatchers more of a prequel to that particular book. I feel that Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson’s writing styles are similar to James Patterson’s writing style. The books by all three authors come, not only from the points of view of the main character, but rather from the point of view of whomever may be able to tell the story best at that point in time.

I hope that you all read this book and that you enjoy it as mush as I did!

Recommended by Theresa Brehm