Book Review of Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Goodreads Summary: Peter Pan, the book based on J.M. Barrie's famous play, is filled with unforgettable characters: Peter Pan, the boy who would not grow up; the fairy, Tinker Bell; the evil pirate, Captain Hook; and the three children--Wendy, John, and Michael--who fly off with Peter Pan to Neverland, where they meet Indians and pirates and a crocodile that ticks.
Goodreads Rating: 4.1 with over 200,000 ratings
Genre Listing: Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Children's book, Adventure
Get the book: Amazon, Book Depository
Goodreads Challenge: 3/30
2018 Reading Challenge: 1. A book from Project Gutenberg (You can find the 2018 reading challenge list here.)

Book Review:

First things first, a little info on the challenge topic for this one. If you've never heard of Project Gutenberg, I highly recommend you check it out. You can do so by visiting https://www.gutenberg.org/. Project Gutenberg is mostly running on donations and volunteer work where they digitalize, proofread, and catalog works with expired copyrights so that users can obtain them for free. I believe they have audiobooks as well as e-books on their massive online library. Be sure to give them some love for the fantastic work they do! 

I decided to go with Peter Pan because I know the story (Thanks, Disney!), so I thought it'd be easier to get through. I'm really not big on classics. I have a tough time reading them. I'm not sure if it's the language used, or what. I try to read one a year, but it doesn't always happen. I can see why Peter Pan is a classic though. For the most part, I really enjoyed the story. However, I'm not sure if it's because I already loved the story through various movies or not. Hook is one of my all-time favorite movies, seriously. Looking back, they actually did an excellent job of tying it into the original story. 

So, I had no idea that this was initially a play. I may be living under a rock. I know that plays of Peter Pan had been made, but I guess I always assumed it was a book and plays were adapted from it, not the other way around. Knowing that, makes sense of what I thought to be a weird style of narration for the story. I enjoyed it, it was whimsical, and I liked how everything had a personality, but there were times where I felt like it rambled on and lost me. For it being a children's story there were a lot of times where I had no idea what was going on because of this narration. 

Speaking of it being a children's story, this is actually really dark when you get into it. There's a meme going around, and when I first saw it, I thought oh that kind of makes sense. I've posted it below, but in a way, it's kind of true. I don't necessarily believe that the lost boys were dead because they eventually grow up. But I'm pretty sure that Peter Pan is actually dead in it. It doesn't really say it, but I definitely felt like it was implied throughout the story. Sorry to for the spoiler and for any childhoods I just ruined. 

Image found on Google

Despite being dark and creepy, part of me kind of wants to dive into the psychology of Peter Pan. The main character is (probably) dead and is flying around getting other children to follow him because he's lonely. He can fly and take them to a magical world both of which stop happening when they get older and stop believing. He forgets everything all of the time, has no concept of time, can sustain on make-believe food, and is desperate to find a mother that he believes he ran away from. In all actuality I think it mentioned he fell and cracked his head, furthering my opinion that he actually died. I just made a comment to my husband that Classic Children's stories are creepy, and he said they were told to terrify children. Not sure if it's actually true or not, but I'd believe it.

For the most part, I enjoyed the story, once you get past the whole narrative rambling and creepy dead main character thing. I actually thought that that Neverland was whimsical, and I liked Tinkerbell and Nana's characters. Is it a classic I'm going to read over and over again? No probably not, but it is one more book I can say that I've read in my life, and probably a classic everyone should read. I can't say that I loved it by any means, but it was entertaining. 

Book Review of Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Goodreads Summary: Blessed with—or doomed to—eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can. When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles on their secret, the Tucks take her home and explain why living forever at one age is less of a blessing than it might seem. Complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune.
Goodreads Rating: 3.86 stars with over 186,000 ratings.
Genre Listing: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Classics, Children
Get the book: Amazon, Book Depository
Book Haul: June 2017 Book Haul
Reading Challenge: #38 a book that was turned into a movie

Housekeeping things

So, apparently, my reading challenge has been discussed in some reading circles, and that makes me excited. I'll be honest I bit off way more than I could chew with this one. 50 books is a lot, and when I created it, I was thinking of very specific books on my shelf. Kind of made it difficult. I've been asked to do one again for 2018, and I will be doing that. However, I am going to cut it down to 30ish books. I also desperately want to schedule when I'm going to read books. I'm also going to try and do a general reading update soon.  I'm still not currently accepting requests from authors, and I'm sorry for that. I just honestly do not have the time to promise that I'm going to read a book at a certain time. 

I'm going to be trying to make this blog a priority again so let me know what you want to see on here. Discussions, books you want me to read, updates. Either just let me know in the comments, on Goodreads, or the blog's facebook page. I hinted around on there that I *may* start writing short stories and posting them on here as well. That's still the plan, I just have to sit down and put the words to screen. I have something in my brain I think you all will really enjoy. 

Tuck Everlasting Review

I can not express how excited I was to find this book. I was in love with the movie when it came out (holy crap that was 15 years ago, I'm getting old). If you haven't seen the movie, it stars Alexis Bledel and Jonathon Jackson. I remember seeing it in theaters with a group of friends. I'm pretty sure they all thought it sucked, but I thought it was magical and whimsical. (Okay, probably not whimsical... I probably didn't use that word at 15.) 

This probably goes without saying, but there are some serious differences between the book and movie. The book is only about 150 pages or so. It's an effortless read, and I loved how everything was worded in it. It's descriptive, and I felt like it gave life to the scenery. I was really impressed with how well everything done in just a few pages. It starts off describing this awful hot and humid summer to the point where you can just feel how sticky it is. Have I told you all I'm a sucker for details? Only about a million times? Well, I'm still a sucker for details. 

This is where the movie and book start to differ. In the book, Winnie is ten going on eleven, and it's more about her and the Tuck family. In the movie, however, she's a teenager, and the movie is about a romance between her and Jesse if I remember correctly. This was a completely weird difference for me since I watched the movie long before I knew it was a book. I went into it thinking Winnie was going to be in teens falling in love with Jesse and she's ten. Awkward.

Because of how short the book is it moves very quickly, so there isn't a lot of time for the relationship between Winnie and the Tucks to develop. They kind of instantly just accept each other. Winnie, for the most part, accepts their secret as the truth (she does have some doubt, but she more or less goes along with it) and they accept that she's just not going to tell a soul. Just like that their friends. In a way, it kind of makes senses though. Starting out, Winnie is incredibly lonely she really only has her grandmother and her parents. I think that because the Tucks have had to isolate themselves for so long, they are also experiencing that same loneliness, and so when the Tucks meet Winnie, they cling to one another and form this bond. 

The books and movie end *slightly* different from one another as well. I believe in the movie Jesse was the one to go check on Winnie years later, but in the book, it's Mae and Tuck. I definitely liked the book version better. I think it just kind of fit better, and the movie ending was to make it more of a romance story. I really enjoyed the other notable friendship that Winnie made in the book. I thought the friendship with the toad was interesting and proved Tuck's point all along. 

I want more of this story. I want it to come full circle and know what all the characters did once they left each other's company. Where did they go? What did they see? Times like this are when I wonder if I should get into fan fiction. Anyways, if you have a couple hours to kill I recommend spending it with Winnie Foster and the Tuck family. 

Video Blog: My Books' Bad Day by Vicki Dennis

Hi, readers! As I mentioned in the video, I wanted to do a special post for this book.  To get things started here is the back of the book description.

"My books' Bad Day demonstrates the likings of a seven-year-old girl for that one special book. Eloise received the book when she was four years old. She took that book on a journey over the years. The journey ended when the book is carelessly handled at the hands of others. Can the damage from a dump truck filled with mud, a terrible kitty, playful puppy, and chocolate cake and ice cream be more than Eloise and her mom can repair?

My Books' Bad Day deals with feelings, disappointment, joy and responsibility."


If you would like to purchase a copy of this book, you can do so at LuLu.

If you would like to view Vicki's educational products for children check out Teachers Pay Teachers.

Edit: Vicki now has a blog, which can be found here.