Peter Pan Graphic Novel

[Dani1923]

There was a old post about this years ago, but I recently bought the Peter Pan graphic novel adapted by Stephen White or “Stref” and illustrated by Fin Cramb, and I finished reading it yesterday.
I highly recommend this book! The drawings are beautiful and there are little details sprinkled throughout the pages that are connected to Barrie, especially if you look at the framed pictures in the Darling nursery!
My favorite detail is that the Darlings own a small framed picture of Michael Llewelyn-Davies dressed as Peter Pan! The drawing is just an outline of the image, but if you know the image well, you can definitely tell that’s what it’s supposed to be!
You can buy the book on Amazon!

[Hannah Grippo]

Awesome, Dani! I will have to check this out. You're so good at finding Peter Pan related stuff! While my students and I read original novels and nonfiction all the time, we also try to find out how whatever story we're looking at is interpreted in other forms of art. We have graphic novels of Shakespeare, The Graveyard Book, heck, even The Diary of Anne Frank. The kids love checking them out after they read the originals (or sometimes doing it the other way around). I enjoy it too. Thanks for the recommendation!

[Dani1923]

No problem Hannah! 😀

[Brutus]

Delighted that you loved the graphic novel! It is (as far as I know) the only true graphic version of the story, as other versions (like the French Loisel) are re-imagined. Stephen White, the artist, has followed Barrie's story as faithfully as he could, including the text which is taken straight out of the play or novel.

As you've noticed, he's dotted the book with "Easter eggs" and it's fun to spot them. Some are probably more obscure than others, unless you know... Such as the opening image, which has Mrs Darling and Wendy in the gardens of Moat Brae on the shore of the river Nith in  Dumfries (the house where Barrie played as a child). The goat in the background comes from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. The nursery was inspired by the backdrop of the original productions (designed by William Nicholson). Have you spotted the iconic portraits of Barrie on the walls? On page 26, Peter Pan and the children fly over Great Ormond Street Hospital, and you can spot the figure of Barrie walking by with Luath, his Newfoundland dog, in the right hand corner. The little house built by the Lost Boys for Wendy is based on the laundry house by Barrie's birthplace cottage in Kirriemuir. The book is actually stuffed with such references and allusions - plenty more to spot! Enjoy.

[Dani1923]

Yes I spotted some of those Easter Eggs! Like the Barrie portraits on the walls and Barrie and Luath (though I thought it was Porthos) walking in the street, Wendy’s house being Barrie’s laundry house, and the goat in the garden. Very cool!
But I didn’t know that The Darlings and Peter were flying over GOSH, and that the garden at the beginning was Moat Brae! Thanks for telling me! 😀

[Hannah Grippo]

Just got this book. Reading it this weekend. I especially can't wait to share it with my students when I'm done, so they experience Peter Pan in the visual imagination. This year's group isn't quite ready for the novel (but we will check it out next year when they're a bit older). Sometimes when they get restless, they demand, "Ms. Grippo, tell us a Peter Pan story!" I am putty with that, but I don't have Barrie's wonderful imagination, so I can only recall and stretch so many tales! Now they can know it heart by heart themselves. Thanks for the recommendation, and for letting us know about all the hidden gems! Will post my review once I'm done.

[Hannah Grippo]

I quite enjoyed this graphic novel for the most part. Loved the hidden gems and how it kept to the novel in language and story. I'm not a fan of the character design as everyone looked too proper, too clean, too angelic. I'd love to see Peter Pan more in lines with a Maurice Sendak looking child - dark and adventurous, cocky and venerable. That's just my opinion though.

My students are throughly enjoying it (I brought it into class this morning and they fought over it). Here are some of their comments:

"This is amazing, but I wish there were more stabbings."

"Oh, Peter, you're too soft, I would've cut off both hands, but the clock was a nice touch!"

"To die would be an awfully big adventure - finally, someone gets it!"

"Peter would kick-butt if he went to the underworld. I wish he did die so I could see him face hell."

"Yes, I knew it when I was just two."

"It's not fair, why should only Peter never grow up? I could fly away too if they'd let me."

"This book is the best except it ends. Can we write our own Peter Pan story too?"