5 Peter Pan Retellings We Love
Like every other good person ever, I’ve adored Peter Pan ever since I read Peter and Wendy. But when I stumbled across the live-action Peter Pan at the young, impressionable age of 13, I quickly discovered one very important fact: Peter Pan is hot. Weirdly hot for a permanent adolescent, in fact. What followed was a literary crush so hard I devoured every Peter Pan adaptation I came across. So if you’ve ever wanted to fly away to Never Neverland in the pages of a good book, we recommend you do it in this order:
Second Star, by Alyssa Sheinmel
If you’re harboring more of a crush on Captain Hook than Peter, than this Neverland-meets-surf-culture crossover is probably the book for you. When her parents and police give them up for dead, Wendy Darling sets out on her own to find her missing brothers. Along the way she falls in love with both Peter, reimagined as the ringleader of a gang of beach-bum runaways, and Jas (aka, Hook), Peter’s drug dealer nemesis.
Peter Panzerfaust, by Tyler Jenkins
In this graphic novelization of Barrie’s classic, Peter and the lost boys are orphans trying to navigate their way through World War II–era France, fighting all the Nazis they come across and saving the Darlings from a plane crash along the way. This series is excellent for two reasons: 1) it offers a wonderfully unique, serious take on our favorite band of brothers, and 2) the artist’s rendition of Peter’s hair is absolutely fascinating.
Peter and the Starcatchers, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
For a decidedly more kid-friendly take on Neverland, the Peter and the Starcatchers series offers a bit of backstory on how exactly Peter became an immortal, prepubescent boy living on a magical island with a giant, malicious crocodile. Plus, the off-Broadway adaptation of this series is pure theatrical gold.
Neverland Academy by Daelynn Quinn
Daphne’s stuck in rural Georgia, where her brothers are attending the Neverland Academy. After getting in a fight with her parents, she runs away with Finn, an ex-attendee of Neverland Academy who lives in tunnels beneath the school. While helping Finn and his gang of boys pull pranks on the increasingly abusive headmaster, Daphne realizes she’s falling for Finn. And even though we’d probably read any Peter Pan–themed book, the combo of the fun-loving Finn with the novel’s darker themes puts this one near the top of our list.
Tiger Lily, by Jodi Lynn Anderson
In this retelling, Jodi Lynn Anderson does something amazing: she makes you want to be friends with Tiger Lily AND Tinker Bell. And admit it, you’ve always hated Tinker Bell. But as Tink narrates the story of Tiger Lily and Peter Pan, you’ll be hoping Peter just ignores little Wendy Darling. No, really. Anderson writes beautifully about Tiger Lily’s tribe, her upbringing by a warmhearted shaman, and the love story she shares with Peter long before Wendy hits the scene.
What’s your favorite Peter Pan story?