✨🧚Straight on Till Morning by Liz Braswell🧚✨
"The tea was filling but strange. Wendy could have done with some proper sandwiches, pastries, or crackers.... But she appreciatively drank the strange reddish-brown decoction of leaves and twigs the Lost Boys swore was just like proper tea if you didn't think about it too much. And in truth, it wasn't bad; it just wasn't the East India Company Darjeeling. It had a warm, almost cinnamony taste."
"Tea was an English right, regardless of race, color, or creed."
- So, you ever been to one of these before?
- Yeah! It’s pretty fun.
- What are you supposed to do?
- It’s easy! You just pick this up, and then you hold it out. Just raise your pinky like this, and then you say, “Excuse me, miss, but may I have a spot of tea?”
Pages 179 and 484 in Straight On Till Morning, from the Twisted Tales series, by Liz Braswell
This book was mostly about the relationship between Tinkerbell and Wendy. For about 80% of the book. Tink, Wendy, the Lost Boys, mermaids, and pirates.
And this kind of annoyed me. I needed Peter Pan to show up a lot sooner.
I did like that Liz Braswell reimagined Wendy to be a writer. Kind of like she reimagined Alice to be photographer in Unbirthday.
"Often, when tempted to peek into the drawer too early, Wendy could assuage her longing by pulling out the tiny notebook she always kept with her. It had a very slim blue pencil that perfectly fit down the spine, and was nearly full of her neat, enthusiastic words. Well-thumbed pages were titled with things like, "Peter Pan and Tiger Lily versus the Cyclops of the Cerulean Sea." And she had illustrated "Captain Hook is Taught a Timely Lesson by Peter Pan" with a little picture of a clock she had carefully copied from the mantel, as well as the eyes and nostrils of a fierce crocodile - the rest of whose body she had no hope of depicting accurately, and thus chose to submerge."
Page 10 in Straight On Till Morning, from the Twisted Tales series, by Liz Braswell
Wendy is also familiar with the works of Shakespeare - A Midsummer's Night Dream and Hamlet.
There is a small excerpt of some of her "writing" in this book.
Wendy was sweating profusely now although it evaporated immediately in the dry air. This caused her some confusion until she finally figured out where the protential rivulets of sweat were disappearing to. Which brought up another worry. In her stories dehydration was much less threatening. "And they couldn't find water anywhere on the deserted island, not even a coconut palm to climb and crack the fruits thereof and drink the sweet nectar. And so the heroes wandered and thirsted and dreamed of lemonade..." And of course Peter Pan and the Lost Boys eventually found something like a washed-up cask of cider or a hidden spring."
Page 289 in Straight On Till Morning, from the Twisted Tales series, by Liz Braswell
And it was a really nice touch that Liz Braswell reimagined this scene in her book.
Tinker Bell wasn't breathing. And she wasn't glowing.
"Don't die, Tinker Bell!" Peter begged. "Don't go out! Tink! You mean more to me than anything!"
"Come on, Tink," Wendy begged, "You can make it, I know you can. I believe in you. I believe in you and fairies and Never Land. I know you wouldn't leave me or Peter Pan or this world. Please, Tinker Bell. I believe in you."
Silence.
And then...the faintest of jingles.
No, Wendy.
I believe in you.
Page 477 in Straight On Till Morning, from the Twisted Tales series, by Liz Braswell
I thought that was so beautiful. Tink and Wendy became actual friends. It's Wendy's belief in Tink that revives her. I love that.
A lot of adult Disney fans I know hate Tinkerbell, because she tried to have Wendy killed in the animated movie and in the book. The recent live action movie just kind of rewrote the Tink and Wendy scenes, but in this book, Liz Braswell really tried to address Tink's anger and rage within the context of her codependent relationship with Peter Pan, a narcissistic boy stuck in eternal youth.
I had a lot of fun re-reading this book. It is overly long, and I wish there was more Peter in it,
"Tea was an English right, regardless of race, color, or creed."
- So, you ever been to one of these before?
- Yeah! It’s pretty fun.
- What are you supposed to do?
- It’s easy! You just pick this up, and then you hold it out. Just raise your pinky like this, and then you say, “Excuse me, miss, but may I have a spot of tea?”
Pages 179 and 484 in Straight On Till Morning, from the Twisted Tales series, by Liz Braswell
This book was mostly about the relationship between Tinkerbell and Wendy. For about 80% of the book. Tink, Wendy, the Lost Boys, mermaids, and pirates.
And this kind of annoyed me. I needed Peter Pan to show up a lot sooner.
I did like that Liz Braswell reimagined Wendy to be a writer. Kind of like she reimagined Alice to be photographer in Unbirthday.
"Often, when tempted to peek into the drawer too early, Wendy could assuage her longing by pulling out the tiny notebook she always kept with her. It had a very slim blue pencil that perfectly fit down the spine, and was nearly full of her neat, enthusiastic words. Well-thumbed pages were titled with things like, "Peter Pan and Tiger Lily versus the Cyclops of the Cerulean Sea." And she had illustrated "Captain Hook is Taught a Timely Lesson by Peter Pan" with a little picture of a clock she had carefully copied from the mantel, as well as the eyes and nostrils of a fierce crocodile - the rest of whose body she had no hope of depicting accurately, and thus chose to submerge."
Page 10 in Straight On Till Morning, from the Twisted Tales series, by Liz Braswell
Wendy is also familiar with the works of Shakespeare - A Midsummer's Night Dream and Hamlet.
There is a small excerpt of some of her "writing" in this book.
Wendy was sweating profusely now although it evaporated immediately in the dry air. This caused her some confusion until she finally figured out where the protential rivulets of sweat were disappearing to. Which brought up another worry. In her stories dehydration was much less threatening. "And they couldn't find water anywhere on the deserted island, not even a coconut palm to climb and crack the fruits thereof and drink the sweet nectar. And so the heroes wandered and thirsted and dreamed of lemonade..." And of course Peter Pan and the Lost Boys eventually found something like a washed-up cask of cider or a hidden spring."
Page 289 in Straight On Till Morning, from the Twisted Tales series, by Liz Braswell
And it was a really nice touch that Liz Braswell reimagined this scene in her book.
Tinker Bell wasn't breathing. And she wasn't glowing.
"Don't die, Tinker Bell!" Peter begged. "Don't go out! Tink! You mean more to me than anything!"
"Come on, Tink," Wendy begged, "You can make it, I know you can. I believe in you. I believe in you and fairies and Never Land. I know you wouldn't leave me or Peter Pan or this world. Please, Tinker Bell. I believe in you."
Silence.
And then...the faintest of jingles.
No, Wendy.
I believe in you.
Page 477 in Straight On Till Morning, from the Twisted Tales series, by Liz Braswell
I thought that was so beautiful. Tink and Wendy became actual friends. It's Wendy's belief in Tink that revives her. I love that.
A lot of adult Disney fans I know hate Tinkerbell, because she tried to have Wendy killed in the animated movie and in the book. The recent live action movie just kind of rewrote the Tink and Wendy scenes, but in this book, Liz Braswell really tried to address Tink's anger and rage within the context of her codependent relationship with Peter Pan, a narcissistic boy stuck in eternal youth.
I had a lot of fun re-reading this book. It is overly long, and I wish there was more Peter in it,