Peter and the Starcatchers takes a fresh look at the classic story of Peter Pan. Peter, along with a group of orphans, are loaded onto a pathetic old boat called the Never Land, crewed by and even more pathetic group of sailors...all except a rough talking sailor named Slank. Also on this boat is a pretty young lady named Molly, accompanied by her governess. It turns out another ship is to sail with the Never Land; the Wasp, a new ship built to outrun the ship of the notorious pirate Black Stasch. Molly's father is on the Wasp. But the Never Land has some special cargo; a trunk that causes unusual but pleasant things to happen to those who touch it. Deprived of decent food while on the boat, Peter is forced to forage the ship for something to eat. While hunting for food, Peter stumbles upon the trunk and...a flying rat! Almost discovered by a crew member, Peter suddenly finds himself with Molly, who through the course of several conversations explains that the trunk contains a substance called starsuff that is the culprit for most of the wars and other troubles in the world. Molly explains that she is part of an order call 'Starcatchers' who help to round up the star stuff as it falls to Earth and keep it out of the hands of the 'Others', those who would abuse the power that come with starstuff. Peter is amazed to see that with the aid of the starstuff, Molly can fly!

The conflict of the story centers around Molly and Peter (with the help of a friendly porpoise with whom Molly converses) working to keep the starstuff out of the hands of the dreaded Captain Black Stasch and his men, as well as the greedy clutches of Slank, who is part of the 'others'. All end up on a beautiful jungle island after a brutal storm, where they clash with the local natives who want to feed them to Mister Grin, a gigantic crocodile. In the end, as we would expect, Peter save the day with the help of some new friends, the mermaids.

When all is resolved it becomes clear how the tale of Peter Pan came to be and all relationships and conflicts for future encounters between characters such as Peter and Captain 'Hook' are firmly established. All in all, Peter and Starcatches is a terrific story full of vivid descriptions, exciting twists in action, and ideas that will tug at your heart and get you thinking. ( )

An engaging story of how Peter became the legendary "Peter Pan." Full of action, humor, and high sea adventure.

An exciting story about the life of Peter Pan, before he gets to Never Land. A very suspenseful story line that moves quickly and keeps the read interested and wanting more. A perfect mixture of fantasy and reality. I loved how the setting changed with each chapter to keep the reader wondering what was coming next. If I were to use this book in my class, it would most likely be as a read aloud.

A prequel to the Peter Pan story, that explains how Peter and the lost boys got to Never Land and the struggles they faced trying to protect the world from the powerful starstuff.

As a lover of the original Peter Pan, I found this "prequel" to be both clever and fascinating. ( )