Peter and Wendy by J.M. Berrie (Children's Literature Novel)

 Berrie, J. M. Peter and Wendy. Charlie Scribner’s Sons. 1911. Illustrated by F. D. Bedford. (267 pages, and 122 pages for the online version)

     This classic tale is a story about Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up and never wanted to grow up. He brings Wendy and her two younger brothers to Neverland, an island full of fairies, pirates, animals, and more. Neverland is a dreamland – a place for adventure, but the lost boys on this island still long for the structure and nurturing that a mother can give. Wendy is commissioned for the task, and does well until the day when she and her brothers return home with the lost boys in tow. Only Peter Pan refuses to stay and grow up, although he visits an aging Wendy and her descendants.

     Peter and Wendy is a story with some vocabulary and content that may offend modern sensibilities. The portrayal and name of “redskins” seems a bit unflattering, and at one point the fairies are described as “some unsteady fairies had to climb over him on their way home from an orgy” (p. 104) Some modern readers may even be put off by the strict gender role assignment that the author engages in throughout the book. However, none of these things bother me personally. If there is value in the story, one can see past the controversial sections and even use them to foster healthy discussion. “Children have the strangest adventures without being troubled by them.” (p.14).

Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (Children's Literature Novel)

Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows. Illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908. (259 pages)

This classic tale of friendship was a pleasure to read. I actually laughed out loud a few times at some of Toad’s exploits. The characterization was amazingly well done; each of the main characters mirrored aspects of people we meet every day. There are sweet and stodgy Mole, poetic hospitable Rat, grim powerful Badger, and outrageous Toad. The concepts of home and friendship were drawn out beautifully.

Wind in the Willows is classed as a children’s modern fantasy, but it seems to me much more of a book adults would appreciate. While there is some action (jailbreak and chase, fight with weasels, car crashes) it is slow moving as Grahame gives sprawling descriptions of setting and nostalgic explanations of home and nature. Adults will appreciate these passages as they are very well done, but I could imagine some children finding them boring.

I realized after starting this book that I had never read the actual novel before. I had certainly read shorter versions of it targeted to younger readers, and saw the Disney short animated film. But there were minor characters and descriptive sections in Grahame’s novel that are excluded in subsequent versions. One of the most poignant excluded sections, in my opinion, is the section from which the book derives its name. Rat explains and interprets the song he hears in the air as the wind blows through the willows:

“Lest the awe should dwell

And turn your frolic to fret

You shall look on my power at the helping hour

But then you shall forget!

Lest limbs be reddened and rent

I spring the trap that is set

As I loose the snare you may glimpse me there

For surely you shall forget!

Helper and healer, I cheer

Small waifs in the woodland wet

Strays I find in it, wound I bind in it

Bidding them all forget!” (p. 141 italics only)