Author Highlight: James Matthew Barrie

James Matthew Barrie never had children. Well he never had his own children, but he adopted many through friendship.  There was a flock of boys in particular whom J.M. Barrie became close to, a family with five boys by the name of Llewelyn Davies.  They were a boisterous pack that James took to hanging round with and eagerly told them fanciful stories of adventure.  This family in particular was the inspiration for the character of Peter Pan.  It began as a simple funny story of a flying baby that lived in the Kensington gardens. Soon that flourished into what we now call Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. I began reading the first chapter today out loud as a family.  It is whimsical with a dash of humor. 

My daughters’ ages range from six to twelve and they found it quite hard comprehending silly ideas such as a father counting the cost of a child after its birth, and then deciding whether they should keep them or not. I laughed at the prospect. They were confused at the mention or their mother organizing Wendy, John and Michael’s minds in the night so that they could be righted in the morning. They did not recognize the delightful humor of Neverland being a part of their dreams and imaginations and how their own mother could recognize Peter Pan. I have read aloud each morning and night to my girls books of all sorts, “Treasure Island,” “Wind in the Willows,” “A Little Princess” and “Alice in Wonderland,” to name a few. I thought that at the very least my oldest would pick up on the subtle charm and humor of these topics, especially when they hire on a Newfoundland dog to be the nanny to the children. It has the enchantment of “Alice in Wonderland,” sheer madness and delight. But I found myself explaining a lot to my children. Apparently they take many things in the literal sense and when it doesn’t make sense in the real world they are flustered. I am not sure why since they are such avid Harry Potter fans. At any rate, I am loving the book thus far and feel younger already as a result. Tell me would you never want to grow up?