Neverland Tales
This isn't exactly new news, but if you're looking for something more to round out your Peter Pan collection, these Neverland Fairy stories from Gail Carson Levine (of Ella Enchanted fame) are cute, sweet, and with enough depth to be interesting to any age.
While not featuring Peter Pan (although he gets a mention), Tinkerbell is a character in this story. Mostly I'm impressed, though, with Levine's ability to fill in the fairy setting of Neverland without ever contradicting the original story. The fairies are as impetuous as you could imagine from a reading of Peter Pan, but somehow Levine also makes them quite likable in a way that they aren't (or maybe aren't for me) in Barrie's original.
The first one is Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, and while it's a story by itself, it does open the way for Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand (while not, thank you very much, leaving us on a cliffhanger).
If you already know and like Levine's other stories, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this. And I think Peter Pan purists (those of us who don't like a fluffy Peter Pan story; those of us who appreciate the melancholy of the original tale) won't be disappointed by an overabundance of happy skipping fairies. While not mean, these fairies aren't gushingly sweet, either. (Maybe just one of them!)
Has anyone else read them? What do you think? Too watered down (not counting the plot point in the second book!)?
While not featuring Peter Pan (although he gets a mention), Tinkerbell is a character in this story. Mostly I'm impressed, though, with Levine's ability to fill in the fairy setting of Neverland without ever contradicting the original story. The fairies are as impetuous as you could imagine from a reading of Peter Pan, but somehow Levine also makes them quite likable in a way that they aren't (or maybe aren't for me) in Barrie's original.
The first one is Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, and while it's a story by itself, it does open the way for Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand (while not, thank you very much, leaving us on a cliffhanger).
If you already know and like Levine's other stories, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this. And I think Peter Pan purists (those of us who don't like a fluffy Peter Pan story; those of us who appreciate the melancholy of the original tale) won't be disappointed by an overabundance of happy skipping fairies. While not mean, these fairies aren't gushingly sweet, either. (Maybe just one of them!)
Has anyone else read them? What do you think? Too watered down (not counting the plot point in the second book!)?