Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

A very solid four stars. This was such a fun read (and if you can listen to Jim Dale narrate it, even better). I adored (or hated, depending on who we're talking about) the colorful cast of characters (Tubby Ted being among my favorites).

I love the original Peter Pan. Just absolutely love it. I reread it a couple years ago and got completely caught up in the wit and humor and sarcasm of it all. So I was a bit apprehensive to read this prequel. But happily, it felt and sounded enough like the original that I didn't have any trouble thinking I was reading about the same Peter Pan...although he is far less conceited...maybe that comes with time. The whole story was so creative: from Captain Hook (Black Stache)to the crocodile to Neverland...so clever.

I did feel like the pacing slowed a bit in the middle section because so many of the parties had broken up, so as the story unfolded each part had to be told from three or four viewpoints.

And also, since there are four more books in the series, it seemed like things wrapped up a bit too nicely. I would have liked it if they'd left a few Peter Pan mysteries for the next book (for example, it seemed like the creation of Tinker Bell happened as an afterthought, and they could have fleshed out her story a lot more if they'd saved her for a later book. However, maybe they weren't originally planning on writing five books?) I'll definitely read the next one; it just didn't leave me hanging enough to run out and grab it this very minute.

If you're looking for an engaging story for 9-12-year-old boys, then this is it. (But, as you can see, 27-year-old moms can enjoy it too!)

I wrote this review before creating this blog.