Definitely next on the reading list

Carrie at Not Alone commented on my Peter Pan post asking if I had read Peter Pan in Scarlet. I'd seen the title floating around, but that's about as far as I'd gotten. I had no idea that this book was written by one of our favorite authors, Geraldine McCaughrean. We've read several of McCaughrean's books as free reading choices and read-alouds, including retellings of The Odyssey and Canterbury Tales. (This link will get you to McCaughrean's offical site and her own Peter Pan in Scarlet site, as well as the "official" site of Peter Pan in Scarlet.)

From this article in the Washington Post (thanks to Mom for sending the link!):

Above all, though, what distinguishes this book is the quality McCaughrean has praised in Barrie: a relish for language. She, too, unleashes sentences that crack like whips: "They watched the days go by like trains." "Where the bee sneaks, there snuck I." "The mast looked so tall you might climb up it with a candlesnuffer and put out all the stars." And she shares his weakness for sly, adult jokes, such as when the Twins insist on naming one landmark Twin Peaks. She reminds you how funny the original still is, a century on.

We're in the middle of the original Peter Pan, enjoying the humor, both the sly and the slapstick. (Oh, how the gents giggled when Captain Hook burned his bum on the mushroom chimney!) I'd love to read a Peter Pan story with even a shadow of the wit of the original. Peter and the Starcatchers was a great adventure, enjoyed by all. But it was like reading an action movie, albeit a well-written one-- a very concrete and straightforward story. It was missing the subtlety and fun, and most of all the magical wildness of Peter Pan and Neverland. We'll probably take a break from our Peter Pan read-alouds once I finish reading Barrie's original. We'll be ready to move on. But that doesn't mean that I can't read about Peter Pan and his new adventures on my own! (Wouldn't it just be too cheesy to put the book in the kids' Christmas basket after I read it?)