Archive for the tag 'Dave Barry'

Peter Pan and the Secret of Rundoon by Dave Barry

Published by sincerelyornot on December 3, 2007 * Comments(5)


Peter Pan and the Secret of Rundoon

The long awaited prequel sequel sequel! The basic idea behind the series is the simple question, “what happened before?” Where was Peter before he was on the island? How did he come to fly? If you haven’t read the first two books, head to the library at this point, or look up reviews on the first (also recapped by Matt) and second books. Peter Pan is still on Mollusk Island, but many unanswered questions from the last book remain. An interesting one, that I hadn’t thought of, is: how did the Starcatchers know ahead of time when the stardust was going to fall (so they could get to it all the other times) and why weren’t they in on it the last time, in Peter Pan and the Shadow Thieves
? They were warned it would come, by a group of people called the Watchers. And they have been compromised.

Plot: Nothing is as you expect it to be, and the first third of the book is exposition to catch you up to all the characters and plotlines. Molly and the Aster family are living in London and trying to figure out more about Lord Ombra and his organization. Peter has gotten over his ego, but with the other boys growing taller than him, life on the island is still getting harder. The Mollusks, our nice Indians, are about to be attacked by Scorpions (bad Indians. And I am pleased to say, the Indians are real people in this book, and I really like them now). Meanwhile, Lord Aster does his now-stay-here-and-I-MEAN-IT speech umpteen times (more on that in positives), Lord Ombra is injured but back (for reasons that, actually, make sense by the time this plotline is resolved), Lord Aster does his ‘Bout-time-you-kids-got-here-I-need-your-help speech a further umpteen times, and Molly and George have discovered why Peter was so oddly affected by the starstuff. Oh, and Black Stache is still trying to get back at Peter, and His Royal Highness III is being evil still.

Positive: Actually resolves plot issues from the last couple of books in an unexpected way, which I find very impressive. Most kids books that become serialized like this (and despite the trilogy bit, I want a prequel sequel sequel) have a TV series quality about them, and tend to create more open plot threads than they sew up. The most positive thing, I think, was the allegorical aspects of the story {SPOILER WARNING}. To defeat evil, Peter has to separate himself from his shadow (his naturally evil self) and its implied he couldn’t do this by himself. Peter’s father died trying to save Peter. Light and Darkness are shown to be in conflict, with light gaining constantly. For a couple of Atheists, the authors are almost exactly theologically correct on this one (although Lord Ombra makes a comment to trivialize the importance of earth in the cosmos, its implied he is trying to just discourage our heroes, and that the opposite is true). Some points of the allegory are more subtle than others, but the general idea comes through quite clearly; I won’t give it all away or it’ll spoil everything. Also, this was more of an adventure than the previous books, being funny incidentally instead of as a driving plot point. This made the characters more engaging, since they weren’t the objects of sarcasm as often (Tinkerbell, especially, won my heart this time. Oh, and George is just awesome). Speaking of which, the authors play on your expectations of children’s literature. The adults aren’t always wrong, and the girls aren’t always right (FINALLY!)

Negative: I had some pretty set expectations from the first two books, so the opening chapters were frustrating to me, since it wasn’t at all what I expected to find happening. So aside from my needing to put aside my expectations and let the authors surprise me… same as last ones. The entire book is written in a funny-drama way. But its more of campfire-side-oooh-the-bear-is-coming-bwahaha scary, with the exception of one scene that I really did not find necessary. As usual, it’s the bad guys and how nasty they are; Indians who go through painful initiation rituals, evil person gets a face full of unpleasant stuff, and Lord Ombra inhabits a couple of characters (one of whom scratches his own face until it bleeds, which is very out of character for this series, and the one paragraph that is not necessary to the plot, so why the editor left it in is anybody’s guess. It’s a paragraph I plan to blot out of my copy).

Overall: I really loved this book, and highly recommend the entire series. Its very creative in describing the origins of Peter Pan, and makes all our favorite characters lovable in the process. George is smart, Tinkerbell is hilarious as comic relief, and the other characters are all followed so satisfactorily that I can’t even begin to review them all.

You can buy it here.

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Peter Pan and the Shadowthieves By Dave Barry

Published by sincerelyornot on March 19, 2007 * Comments(0)
Sequel to “Peter Pan and the Starcatchers”, which was itself a prequel to James Barrie’s “Peter Pan” (conveniently for me, both authors have the same first four letters in their names, so it was easy to find all the books in the kids library, being in one place and all that). So does that make it a SePrequel or a prequelsequel? I don’t know, but it is a good book, and pretty much even with its predecessor in quality. An accomplishment in an of itself, since the first book was one running joke after another, and “Peter Pan and the Shadowthieves” is one streaming mystery after another.

Plot: The books opens essentially where it left off in the last one, maybe a few months ahead, and Peter clearly hasn’t gotten the entire leadership thing yet. His friends have to help him out of a major scrape, with our mermaids coming back to help out in exchange for a chance to flirt with Peter, and everyone is too busy to notice how many bad people have congregated on the island all at once (and one of them isn’t even a people). The escaped pirates from the first book return, the marooned pirates decide to attack, and a mysterious creature with unknown powers wants the box of starstuff. The other bad guy problems, while not resolved right away, take a back seat to the threat posed by the Shadowthief. Since the stardust isn’t there, the creature and some of the pirates leave to find it, muttering threats against Molly as they go. The lost boys, therefore, are left to deal with part of the pirate problem, so Peter can help Molly protect the starstuff. Molly, however, is back in London, and doesn’t know what is coming; neither does her father, who is busy trying to return the stardust. The Others have a lot of henchmen involved this time, and it is going to take everyone’s detective skills to figure out what they are up to. Tinkerbell (a birdgirl, as she prefers to be called), gets involved , trying to protect Peter in a new kind of jungle, even getting a mini adventure of her own among the birds (that is really quite funny). A lot more action than the first book, and more of a mystery-element to the plot, but sprinkled with enough jokes to keep the tension from going anywhere high.

Positives: Too many to mention, but here are my favorites. Peter becomes more of a real leader (saving people not just when it is easy or convenient, helping his boys and trying to include other people in his fun), though the part when Peter returns to London is the best. He has a lot of struggles, but shows plenty of courage and determination (like a hero should). Molly is equally intelligent, though not always wise, and some of the incidences she helps out with are pretty funny. My favorite character in this book, though, would be George. Its about time someone came up with a compensation to the ladies-all-love-Peter subplot; thank you, Dave Barry! The entire book, actually, I found quite funny (though I resent the fact that certain bad guys are still at large, and no prequelsequelsequel)!

Negatives: Captain Nezzera and his wooden nose are a creepy pair for the opening chapters. Once he is made into more of a comedic relief he’s tolerable, but in the beginning he is no fun at all to read about (I have never enjoyed the oh-by-the-way-this-is-why-we-call-them-bad-guys part of books). Also, there are alot of smart animals in the end action scenes (my personal pet peeve, smart talking animals. Thankfully, the talking was minimized, but still, what’s up with the animals? Porpoises are bad enough.). The Shadowthief’s effect on people is described as zombie like, and the children’s bad behavior is not always rebuked.

In Essence: Can I just say, George is great? Really, he’s kind, and considerate, and a gentleman, and scholarly in a charmingly geeky way (okay, irresponsible; not telling his parents anything that has happened is unwise. Aside from that character flaw, he’s great counterbalance for the mermaids), and its hilarious to see him and Peter silently agree that they will never be friends. I like mysteries, so this storyline appealed to me,and I highly recomend it (though not as a realy little kidsy book, despite being in the children’ssection).

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Peter Pan and the Star Catchers By Dave Barry

Published by sincerelyornot on March 8, 2007 * Comments(2)
I’ve been a cautious fan of Dave Barry’s for years (a fan because he’s hilarious when he tries to be; cautious, because he is prone to being lazy and uses crude/foul language as a substitute for comedy. A common malady among comedians these days), so the author’s name alone peaked my interest in this book. Peter Pan is one of my favorite childhood stories, and I didn’t want that memory tarnished by truckloads of bad language. Thankfully, Mr. Barry takes Mr. Barrie’s ideas and uses his most industriously clean and funny efforts in years to tell the story of , basically, “what happened before Peter Pan learned to fly?”

Plot: An orphan named Peter is taken from a cruel boys home, along with a group of boys his age (he always claims to be one year older than the oldest), and put on a ship. Also on board the ship is a girl named Molly, who happens to have a careless governess, a fondness for hungry waifs (she shares her food with the boys), and a special secret. Molly’s father is on the ship ahead of them, a certain pirate is en route to get between Molly and her father, and Peter is too curious about what they are fussing over to stay in the dark very long. On board one of the three ships is a box of stardust, with special abilities in itself and those it touches, and Molly is a Starcatcher, whose kind is trying to protect it from the dark Others. This is only the mid beginning, and a lot more upsets and revelations will ensue before the end, that had me stuck to my seat for the entire ride.

Negatives: most of the violence, if not all, in this book is played for laughs, so a literal list of the violent content will not be following. Most of the time, any “hurt”s are lost in the laughter. There are some tense/scary parts for younger kids, such as when the mermaids fight the pirates and blood is described as clouding the water, and the orphans are given worms to eat and the like. The most objectionable parts, for me, were when the mermaids are formed (using stardust), and they are described a lot like evolving, even referring to the box of stardust as “the creator.” There are some inappropriate moments, with subtle references to extramarital relations, and the mermaids are not described per se, but the fact that they have no clothes above the waist is left implied if unsaid. Also, “The Ladies”, are sails that look like a corset top, flying above the pirate deck.

Postives: This book has so many good points, I can’t begin to touch on them all, but my favorite parts were definitely the outsmart-the-bad-guy sections. Peter has to learn to be a real leader, going to find food for the hungry boys and finding ways to hide those forays from the pirates. And saving the mermaids, and Molly, from the Pirates takes a very long time but there were lots of clever bits there. When Peter has to save the boys from the crocodile, the results are rather humorous. Also, the Indians are not omnipotently wise, and actually make a mistake or two, which was nice: I get SO tired of the noble savage bit, it was great to see them acting like real people (intelligent, useful people, but still people, not Greek gods). There are moments of supremely humorous dialogue, which alleviate alot of the tension. All of the (as yet unnamed) Lost Boys have personalities, and they cooperate a lot like a family of boys would be expected to; with plenty of infighting and unified action.

In Essence: I love Peter! He’s silly and sweet and funny and totally boyish, without being the least bit an annoying brat. I understand what the ladies see in him, in this one, and its also easy to understand why he can’t see anything much in them. Also, the abundance of references to fairy tale lore is really funny (Tinkerbell, for instance, is a fairy created from a green and yellow bird that was overexposed to starstuff.) This book grabs you right at the start and doesn’t let go until the end (when I promptly reached for the sequel).

Here’s another review of Peter and the Star Catchers.

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