Peter and the Star Catchers

Title: Peter and the Star Catchers

Author: Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson

ISBN: 9780786849079

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Copyright: 2006

Genre: Fantasy

Age Range: 12 -15

Reader’s Annotation: Learn the origins of Peter Pan and Captain Hook on a high seas island adventure.

Plot Summary: Five boys named Peter, James, Prentiss, Thomas, and Tubby Ted were orphans sold off to the King of Rundoon. They board the Never Land for the journey at the same time as a trunk. The trunk makes whoever is near it happy. Peter sees a girl on board as they are lead below to be put into their cramped quarters. The boys are served horrid representations of what is supposed to be food. The next night, Peter sneaks out in search of real food and finds a door that is guarded by the biggest man he’d ever seen. He finds a way into the room and sees the trunk and a flying rat. Peter runs back to the other boys. The next day he meets Molly Aster. She is the daughter of the man that is supposed to be the next ambassador to Randoon. He is curiously traveling on a different ship. Molly knows more about the trunk than she is telling Peter. A porpoise warns Molly that her dad’s ship has been attacked by the Black Stache and is heading for the Never Land.

            The Black Stache attacks the Never Land looking for the trunk. Molly and the boys try to keep the Black Stache and the captain of the Never Land, Slank, at bay from the trunk. A storm wrecks the Never Land leaving everyone stranded on an island inhabited by natives. While on the island, Molly and Peter continue to look for the trunk. The other boys and a good sailor named Alf are captured by the natives and thrown into a crocodile pit with Mister Grin. Molly saves them using starstuff to fly them out. Starstuff is the contents of the trunk, and it has the power to change animals into mythical creatures like mermaids and give humans extra powers. The trunk is found in a cove with an all out battle between Slank, mermaids, the Black Stache, the boys, the natives, and Molly. Who will win the day for the control of the starstuff?

Critical Evaluation: Peter and the Star Catchers is another book on the cusp of young adult fiction. It is a high adventure book that might be capable of getting boys interested in reading at a higher level. The story is a familiar tale from many children’s stories and movies. But the twist is the explanation of how it all happened. The main reason to include the book into a collection would be its utility as a teaching tool for adaptation. In any theater arts class or a library arts appreciation club, it is important to teach lessons about adaptation. The book can be paired with a school or club trip to see the Broadway musical version of Peter and the Star Catchers. The musical version is a five time Tony Award winner in 2012 and was nominated for best play in 2014. Students and club members can read the story and see how it was adapted by story and visuals by the actors and writers of the musical.

Author Information: Dave Barry - A writer who has built a career out of finding the humor in nearly everything, Dave Barry was born on July 3, 1947, in Armonk, New York. He first started out as a reporter in the early 1970s, and later developed a newspaper column that provided readers with his comic take on daily life. At its peak, his weekly column eventually appeared in more than 500 newspapers. Source - http://www.biography.com/people/dave-barry-20699073#awesm=~oDHuRL5GzJMhjH

Ridley Pearson - Ridley Pearson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 48 novels, divided almost equally between suspense and young adult adventure. Over the years, his work has been published in two dozen languages, and has been adapted by network television and for the Broadway stage.

His research has spanned the globe and included everything from the engine room of a cruise liner, to a nighttime visit to Walt Disney World’s It’s A Small World ride, to a locked-room visit with inmates at a prison for the criminally insane. The real life aftereffects of this research have at various times helped authorities solve a trio of homicides and briefly made Ridley a silent contributor to an FBI task force charged with the manhunt for the Washington D.C. sniper. Source - http://ridleypearson.com/about-ridley/

Curriculum Ties: History

Challenge Issues: Kidnapping; Violence

Booktalk Ideas: High Seas – Talk about the adventure that was to be had on the high seas with unknown islands, pirates, and the star stuff.