Peter and Wendy

J. M. Barrie, 1911

Children's classics

A boy who will not grow up brings Wendy and her brothers into the adventurous world of Neverland.

Read the book Contents

Listen free: the LibriVox audiobook, read by volunteers. Press Listen in the reader to hear each chapter as you read.

Length: 17 chapters
Reading time: About 3 hr 18 min
Words: 47,022

About the book

Wendy Darling already knows that growing up is inevitable, but Peter Pan presents a striking exception. His appearance interrupts a household where parents, children and even a dog have distinct responsibilities. An ordinary nursery becomes an entrance to another sort of life.

Barrie's narrator combines playful certainty with a more wistful awareness of childhood's limits. The adventures offer fairies, flight and pirates, while the domestic details keep questions of care close at hand. The pleasure of pretending and the desire to be looked after are never very far apart.

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Children's classics

This edition

Text from Standard Ebooks, who proofread and typeset it and dedicate their edition to the public domain. J. M. Barrie died more than 70 years ago, so the work is out of copyright in the UK.