Barrie's telling of the boy who won't grow up opens not with Neverland but with the very ordinary Darling household, which makes the leap out the nursery window land harder. The narrator talks straight to the reader throughout, dry and knowing ("Two is the beginning of the end"), which makes it a genuine pleasure to read aloud rather than just perform. A longer one for children ready to sit with real chapters.
Chapters
A long one: read it a chapter a night.
- Chapter I. PETER BREAKS THROUGH
- Chapter II. THE SHADOW
- Chapter III. COME AWAY, COME AWAY!
- Chapter IV. THE FLIGHT
- Chapter V. THE ISLAND COME TRUE
- Chapter VI. THE LITTLE HOUSE
- Chapter VII. THE HOME UNDER THE GROUND
- Chapter VIII. THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON
- Chapter IX. THE NEVER BIRD
- Chapter X. THE HAPPY HOME
- Chapter XI. WENDY’S STORY
- Chapter XII. THE CHILDREN ARE CARRIED OFF
- Chapter XIII. DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES?
- Chapter XIV. THE PIRATE SHIP
- Chapter XV. “HOOK OR ME THIS TIME”
- Chapter XVI. THE RETURN HOME
- Chapter XVII. WHEN WENDY GREW UP
Public domain. Source text via Project Gutenberg, PG boilerplate removed. View the source edition