Peter Pan Book Review {Edwardian Unit Study}

Whilst this is mainly a Peter Pan book review, I will also attempt to tie it in with the Edwardian Unit study. J. M. Barrie originally wrote a play titled ‘Peter and Wendy’. It was published as a book and renamed Peter Pan, in 1911. However, these days Peter Pan is more well known as a Disney character than a book character! Peter Pan was set during 1904, in Edwardian London, making it perfect for your Edwardian Unit Study.

Read More! This Edwardian Unit Study resource post contains lots more ideas for further reading and activities to go along with your Edwardian Unit Study.

Peter Pan Book Review: Summary

Peter Pan follows the story of the Darling children–Wendy, John, and Michael–and their adventures with Peter Pan in Neverland. The children find Peter in their nursery searching for his shadow. Much to Tink’s dismay, Peter persuades them to join him, flying over London, to Neverland. The pull of flying is too strong for the siblings. T hey soon find themselves in a world without their doting parents and the infamous nursemaid, Nana. Nana, of course, is a dog, as any good nursemaid is!

A fun science activity, to go along with your Edwardian Unit study, would be to study how shadows are made. And then you could go ahead and make some on a white wall:

Back to the book. In this magical parallel world, the children meet mermaids, Indians, pirates (and their fearless leader Captain Hook), fairies and, of course, the Lost Boys. These boys have no mother to look after them, a role that Wendy happily fills. There are many adventures afoot, but these are not enough to keep the children from craving their old life. And once Hook captures them all apart from Peter, they decide at the first chance they get, they will escape to journey home. Can Peter help them to get free from Captain Hook. And if he does, will he help them to return home?

Creating an aged map of Neverland would be a great activity, especially if teamed with a treasure hunt! Or alternatively, you could do some fun maths activities with it. Another map making idea might include making a huge paper mache map of Neverland and build it up to include some of the landmarks of Neverland.

The Characters of Peter Pan

Peter Pan

Peter Pan is jam-packed full of interesting characters. From the obviously made-believe to the ever wonderful Nana, it is not difficult to imagine the pull of Neverland, and also the desire to return home. Peter is not terribly likeable as the protagonist of the story. It requires quite the imagination to envisage a world where Peter (at the age when he still has all his baby teeth) is in charge of the Lost Boys.

Wendy

Wendy is an interesting character who falls into the role of becoming a mother to the Lost Boys. It is delightfully written, making it unclear whether or not Wendy is playing some elaborate pretend play game or whether she truly views herself as their surrogate mother. The make-believe setting of Neverland, allows this potential pretend play to seem incredibly realistic. Oh, and Wendy’s predilection of her motherly role seems surprising considering she has thus far been brought up by a dog!

We have always loved dressing up in our homeschool. Growing up the children had an enormous box full of dress up and items for pretend play. Peter Pan, with its colourful characters, lends itself well to dressing up and pretend play if your children are young enough to enjoy that. Pirates, Captain Hook, fairies, Peter Pan, Indians…the list goes on! Head over to this post about flower fairies and this Robin Hood post for some great ideas!

Mrs Darling

Mrs Darling plays a vital role in the story to show continuum…that she knew Peter when they were both children is an interesting juxtaposition. Peter has remained a child and yet seems to have been alive forever. His longevity surely suggests some sort of maturation should have occurred, but this is not the case at all. Peter is as self-absorbed and immature as the age of his teeth suggest!

Peter Pan Book Review: Perspectives and Passing Time

Although not obvious, Peter Pan is written from the perspective of a young child. This other-world of Neverland is described so beautifully and with such a lovely childish point of view, one can’t help but wish to return back to a time in our own life when we saw the world through the eyes of sheer imagination.

Surprisingly time passes, even in Neverland. This is to be expected, I guess, but somehow the magical Neverland feels like it should exist within its own time continuum, separate from earth’s perspective of time. Perhaps it reflects a child’s natural disregard for time. Peter’s memory, or lack thereof, seems not to support the passage of time. However, much like the children all over the world that he represents, Peter lives only in the here and now. Yesterday and yester-year do not exist for him, at least not in any truly meaningful way. Peter is unable to think too much in the future. Although he does make plans for the future, these tend to be outlandish and transient, again reflecting a child’s nature of being very present in the moment.

The Book and a Film

As mentioned, Disney have a lovely adaptation of Peter Pan. So to celebrate finishing the book, a family film night would be perfect!