Wonderful news ... a new edition of this book will be released in paperback ..., available through Amazon.
Birkin completed the book when adapting the story of J M Barrie for a BBC mini-series, The Lost Boys. As well as writing Peter Pan, Barrie was in his time, regarded as a playwright the equal of George Bernard Shaw. That his work quickly fell out of favour may be due to its pathos and close relation to Barrie's own life.
I stumbled across this book over ten years ago, and its poignancy, honestly and power have been with me ever since.
It centres around the Llewelyn Davies family, which became the inspiration for Peter Pan, but went on to have an even more profound impact upon the life of the melancholic Scottish playwright.
As one of the protagonists later wrote, the masses of photographs (extensively reproduced in the book) seem to foretell the whole sad story. Indeed, Birkin's strength is allowing the story to unfold through letters, images and quotation from Barrie's surprisingly autobiographical work. What emerges is the finest of biographies. Peter Pan acquires a whole new sad significance in the light of this book, and it captures the fading Edwardian twighlight exquisitely.
Upon the death of the last of the Llewelyn Davies boys (after first publication), the majority of the material used in the book was bequeathed to Birkin, a ringing endorsement of his sensitive and perceptive retelling of the story.
I cannot recommend this book too highly.

I first read this book roughly ten years ago. It is still one of my all-time favorites. The beautiful and tragic lives of the Llewellyn-Davies family, and their beauty caught in intimate pictures, reminds one of the Romanovs. This book is a very loving, close portrait of the relationship between JM Barrie--the playwright of Peter Pan (and numerous other plays and books)and an Edwardian family composed of five charming, beautiful, intelligent boys. The boys' parents (one of whom is the daughter of George du Maurier [author of Trilby] -- the boys' cousin is Daphne du Maurier) both die young, leaving them orphans in the care of JM Barrie. The book contains astonishingly beautiful photographs, diary entries, letters, etc. The truth of the story gives it a charm and tragedy mere fiction lacks. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Barrie must be one of the 20th C's most under-rated and misinterpreted writers. This beautiful and haunting book helps interpret his writing, especially that maudlin classic of hopeless nostalgia Peter Pan. Look in this book beyond the fragile elegance of the Edwardian world, and the beautiful children frozen forever in time by Barrie's camera and there's tragedy. Everyone, Arthur, Michael, Jack and especially Barrie himself comes to a sticky end. It well illustrates that old morality tale: be very careful about what you wish for -it may come true. I agree it's a tragedy this book has slipped out of print.

Peter Pan was always a childhood favorite of mine. Now, having read Ann Yeoman's "Now and Neverland. Peter Pan on the Myth of Eternal Youth", I will approach the story and its characters with a new and, dare I say it, "grown-up" (sorry Peter) perspective.

Ms. Yeoman's writing style is clear and a pleasure to read. She presents unique and interesting insight into the hero, Peter Pan in an easy to follow manner and hence facilitates an "deeper" understanding of the myth and how it relates to us all.

I highly recommend it!

I've just finished reading Ann Yeoman's stunning Jungian book, Now or Neverland Inner City Books, 1998, ISBN 0-919123-83-X. 191 pp.) I'm going to read it again quite soon, as it is so packed with new information and living ideas a single reading can't do it justice. I picked it up because I'm interested in the Divine Child and the Puer Aeternus archetypes, which I believe are very closely related, and I thought Peter Pan might have something to say on the matter. He does, but it's backward -- he is a strangely subversive and disruptive figure, refusing to settle into any one role -- hovering at the window of Barrie's England (its stuffy ideals still very much a part of our own social history and psyche), but equally uncomfortable in the Neverland to which he always escapes, no matter how much he crows and manipulates an enthralled Wendy, her brothers and the Lost Boys and the rest of Neverland. He is, this Peter Pan, an enigmatic, often dark figure, related to gods like Mercurius, Pan, Dionysus, and an astonishing lot of others (Icarus, Prometheus, Lucifer and Narcissus are mentioned, I think quite correctly).

I shall certainly never read PETER PAN the same way again -- forget Mary Martin or that Disney fraud. Forget Robin Williams too.

I wanted to read this book because Ann Yeoman is combining a career at New College, University of Toronto, where she is Dean of Students with teaching Jung and literature courses and a small practice as a Jungian analyst. What I hadn't expected was her brilliant concluding chapter, in which she compares Neverland and the Internet. She is certainly the first Jungian analyst I've found who is addressing the kinds of problems that have been concerning me for the past five years. So we may find out something about Peter Pan's dilemma from cyberspace -- I have certainly met lost boys (and lost girls) floating around, scarcely remembering where home is, and heard more than one ticking crocodile. There's more to come from this Peter Pan -- we have not heard the last word from him or from Ann Yeoman.

From the concluding chapter - "Peter Pan provides a metaphor for the unknown new - rootless consciousness is the dis-ease of contemporary society as it faces an uncertain future. The radical uncertainty of our future finds its own metaphor in our rapidly evolving electronic technology. In many ways, the elusive promise embodied in Peter Pan is the promise also of cyberspace. The new electronic era invites us to enter an indeterminate virtual realm where, it seems, everything and anything is possible, where we may create ourselves as we desire, where freedom and creativity know no bounds. Yet the very metaphors we use to describe this virtual zone are ambiguous. Netscape, Web, Internet, Windows, Paths -- images of boundless potential, but also metaphors for entrapment and delusion. On the one hand, Internet users access a seemingly unlimited network of information; on the other, the value and structure of that same information must be questioned, if one is not to run the risk of having one's mind made up for one, as an unwitting adherent of, to quote Derrick de Kerckhove, a 'collective, techno-cultural morality' which generates an 'average and averaging psychology.' Who are we when flying in the Neverland of cyberspace?" (pp. 175-6)

Sir James Barrie (who gave us both play and novel) and his creation Peter Pan are both a bit uncanny, unsettling. What message do they bring us today, as we fly toward the sill of the new Millennium?

This fine addition to the Disney Sketchbook series has many of the wonderful sketches done by Disney's animation department for Peter Pan, including many pieces from the storyboards, and several sketches of scenes that never made it into the final film.

Artists that would like to study the Disney style of drawing and animation should find this volume a terrific addition to their collection despite its rather high price. As a student of art, and a fan of the Disney style, I highly recommend any of these books for your library.

This is an exquisitely made book and if you are at all interested in animation or disney art, this or any of the sketchbook series books are a must. Each character has it's section where various sketch drawings are shown. There are also some background pictures. No text, but a delight to flip through. Beautifully designed and packaged.

This is a wonderful play, full of dry and witty characters, and it is also an interesting insight into the lives of the wealthy at the end of the last century. But also in there is the sociologist's dream - the opportunity to take a group of people and allow them to find their own roles within a new society. We all like adventure tales and stories of deserted islands and shipwrecks, and this is much better than most.

J.M. Barrie, the author of the wonderful Peter Pan stories, wrote this play in 1917, and it clearly shows a much freer tone than those plays that I have read that were written during the previous Victorian era. In this play, a group of people, strangers for the most part, are invited to an unusual midsummer stay. Each person present has a secret regret, a path that they wished that they had taken. When, on Midsummer's Eve, a magical forest appears, each enters and get a chance to see the people they might have been had they taken that other path.

This 'tragicomedy' is quite a wonderful story. I first picked it up with some trepidation, as some plays are rather too bare boned. However, Mr. Barrie included many notes and sidebars that make this play read just as easily as any prose story. It has quite an interesting lesson, and yet is very entertaining. I hope that I am able to find this play being performed somewhere, as I certainly enjoyed reading it. I think that you will enjoy reading it, too.

This original story version is a little darker than the Disney one, but wonderful none the less. The Neverland which for the most part you can only get to in dreams, is filled with pirates right out of "Treasure Island", Indians from "The Last of the Mohican", as well as mermaids, fairies, flying children, and wild creatures.

Peter Pan represents youth, and his arch rival Captain James Hook is age always fighting with youth and time. The story is one big adventure told in a way which is humorous, and compelling. There is constant danger, but never prolonged suspense to bring any real concern over the outcome. At times Peter is as much a villain to the children as he is a hero. I never considered before that children could be heartless, but I guess they do not have much of a conscious when they are that young.

I'd rank this as one of the best children's stories of all time.

I recently picked up a copy of this book at the Lenox used book sale. My copy was inscribed by someone who gave it as a present in 1941. The book jacket says that it is a "children's book" but that's along the lines of saying that Gulliver's Travels is a children's book. The author is the same one who wrote Peter Pan.

It was written around the turn of the century and its style is a little bit more Victorian. However, it is a very interesting book, and I was fascinated by it. (Not quite fascinated enough to read it in one sitting, but fascinated enough that it was hard to tear myself away.)

The narrator is a man who was in love with a woman and circumstances separted them. Now, about 20 years later, she moves not far away from him with her son. The focus is on the circumstances involving the son, which is basically a simple love story.

Nothing original here, but some of the language is very poetic, and he tells a gripping story. Those who are interested in such things will enjoy the Scottish dialect and description of the lifestyle of a small Scottish weaving town.

I had known from "Peter Pan" and "The Little Minister" that Barrie was a great author, but I think this is the best I've read of his, so far.

He manages to create one of those characters that you love despite (because of?) his faults, and he surrounds him with a great supporting cast and many subplots. I recommend this highly to anyone who likes Barrie's work (or as an introduction to it).

Simon and Schuster present the original, unabridged tale of Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie to a new generation of readers. The 1911 tale is in a large sized book with 134 pages and colorfully illustrated life-like pictures.

I remember the story of Wendy Darling, her brothers, parents, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Neverland, the mermaids, Tiger Lily, and all the wonderful situations that made up this animated fairytale in print. From the moment Wendy and Peter Pan meet, to the first flight, to the trips to Neverland and all the escapades that followed, to the end with a grown up Wendy and her own child -- it's all here in the manner in which it was really meant to be told. It's too unique to be missed by young or old. Rereading it as a grown-up was a magical experience.

Although I see nothing wrong with the Disney adaptation of Peter Pan, I am glad to see the original version back in fresh print. There isn't anything in Peter Pan I feel would affect young children, it's just a lengthy tale that would most likely take a week of bedtime reads to finish.

Truly, I was taken aback when I first pulled this gorgeous book out of its wrappings. The illustration and pure magic that jumps out from every page will enchant children all of ages (even big kids like me!) This edition of Peter Pan was written and designed with love for the story; that is evident! You'll find a map inside the cover, showing the Lost Boys Territory, Buccaneer Zone, Deadman's Isles, among other things.

Peter Pan presented like this makes a beautiful coffee table book. You'll be anxious to read this to your children, and your older kids will engross themselves over it, too.  

This is not the Peter Pan we had growing up! I highly recommend this book to parents and children who really appreciate a classic and a keepsake.

This edition of Barrie's classic novel ushers in a new era in illustrated books. Combining photography and state-of-the-art computer wizardry with an illustrator's sensibility that descends directly from the work of such artists as N.C. Wyeth, Arthur Rackham, and Maxfield Parrish, Raquel Jaramillo has brought the tale of Peter Pan and Neverland magically to life. Children will be enthralled by the immediacy and realism of the pictures--able, finally, to see the 'real' Peter, Hook, and Tinker Bell--while adults will appreciate the artistry of her interpretations. This is the original, unabridged novel, though Jaramillo has cleverly found a way to highlight key textual points with captions that can be read aloud to younger fans. This book is a triumph, a joy for young and old alike!

"Peter pan" is one of the best book I love. As like Wendy, when I was a child I loved Peter from my heart. He is a real child, never never grow up and know dirty or gain unnecessary wisdom.. I seriously wanted to fly away to the Neverland. I think it is very difficult to become an adult with innocence. The child grow up to forget how to fly and don't believe fairly or romantic things. So I hope I would be a child forever. I don't want to be an adult. I think this book is not only adventure, but also sad love story about Peter and Wendy. Wendy fell in love with Peter but he hoped her to be a mother. I wanted them to become happy. Child wants love but when he gets it, he is no longer a child. It is heartless contradiction. The last part of this story is very sad, I think.

The book 'Peter Pan' by J. M. Barrie is a truly beautiful work. It is never too cloyingly sweet or too harsh, and the child's perspective of the world is beautifully crafted. It does, however, bring you along on a journey to the Neverlands, and perhaps for a little while we can be reunited with our dreams.

Although Wendy seems a little prim, she is sweet and motherly. John was offhand and brave, Michael was tiny and believing. My favourite character was, however, Peter. The author really outdid himself on this one. Peter's innocent cockiness and love for dangerous adventures endeared him to me at once. He still has all his first teeth, and his first laugh - what more could we ask of him? His frightful happiness in danger reminds me of my seven-year-old self.

The book retains a magical quality right up to the last page. The midnight scene where Peter coaxes them out of the window has always stood out in my mind; there is a kind of magic in an ever-young boy, small and innocently cocky and always up to some mischief. The ending of the book is very sad, for only those who are gay and young and light-hearted can fly.

Definitely a book worth reading. Adults, trust me on this one: you might think you're too old to read this book, but once you do you'll find that a piece of Neverland still resides in your heart.

Driving with young children in the car quickly convinced me that it was unsafe to not give them something to listen to. After ten years I have collected a large (30+) bag of books-on-tape. I have also loaned them to others and asked for opinions. Peter Pan (read by Wendy Craig) is not only my favorite, but also the favorite of my wife and most of my friends. It is excellent for all ages (4 to 80) and even most hardened teenagers. Humour, presentation, ... a prefect 10.