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Whew child this! This book does not hold up. I don't exactly remember reading it as a child, but I'm not sure that I would have connected the dots with the number of issues I had reading this book as an adult.

First, I don't think I need to give a description of this one. So many people are familiar with the story of Peter Pan. What many may not realize is how difficult it may be to read this book in a 21st century setting. It's without fail a title of it's time and my one star rating isn't solely based on it's problematic elements. I'm able to read a book and recognize it's place in literature. However, THIS BOOK IS BORING AF! Why did no one explain that this book is a slog to get through?!? I anticipated the racism, the misogyny, the weird sexual tid bits, but MY GOODNESS what child has ever found this book remotely entertaining?!? Hook has to be the driest and corniest villain on the planet (and yes I am aware that some people interpret Hook as the Neverland version of Mr. Darling). AND PETER?!? I would never want to be friends with him or be in his presence. He's crude, rude, cruel, selfish, unkind and more. I did not realize how he treated Wendy and her brothers until I read this. It appears that the adaptations of this, particularly the ones for kids, soften his personality tremendously.

Now for the problematic pieces of this book. If any one decides to pick up this book please be aware of the harmful content towards Native and Indigenous communities. I kept a tally of how many times racial slurs were used towards the community and it's was over 20. While this is term that was common during the time of Barrie, it doesn't make it right nor easier to consume. There were some interesting (and I don't mean interesting in a good way) things done in terms of gender roles where Wendy is often forced to take on the role of a motherly figure as well as that of wife insinuating that those are roles that she should aspire to fill as she gets older. Then there was the quote in which the Native community in Neverland addressed Peter as "great White father." Ya'll--I promise I pressed the rewind button on my audibook several times to make sure I heard that line correctly. It is definitely in line with an imperialistic mindset. I won't even dive into the character design of Tiger Lily. Wendy is also hypersexualized in one scene in the very beginning that made me feel a little uncomfortable. The narrator states something along the lines of "now Wendy was every inch a woman." There were also lines about the effect that Peter's voice had on women. All of it, regardless of intent, felt a little awkward to me as an adult reader consuming a children's classic. As I stated before, I understand that a lot of these ideals and terms were commonly used or taught during the publication of this book; however, it wouldn't be fair for me to review it and leave out my thoughts regarding this content.

I'm working on a project right now where I go through and read childhood classics and analyze them for their readability in the 21st century. It's a way to provide ways for people to have discussion about classics that often perpetuated harmful stereotypes and/or ideals and how we move forward in modern children's literature by providing strong readalikes for these sometimes challenging books. Overall, I didn't enjoy this one. Regardless of it's place in time, I found it to be incredibly dry and boring.