Peter and the Secret of Rundoon

Continuing with my own personal children's books month, I just finished Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, the third book in Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's trilogy of prequels to Peter Pan. Well, it was supposed to be a trilogy, but they actually just released a fourth in the series. This will be the end of the road for me, however. The first two books were pretty good, but this last one didn't have the same cohesiveness. Instead of just sticking to the stuff already familiar in Peter Pan lore--pirates, Indians, and flying fairies--this book threw in monkey-operated rocket ships, flying carpets, and the secret desert kingdom of Rundoon. And starstuff--the magical dust that allows Peter to fly--is responsible for the very existence of matter itself. So, Peter must literally save the world. Not even Harry Potter went that far. I mean, sure it was an epic battle of good versus evil, but he wasn't fighting to save the very existence of the physical universe.

There were a few very Disneyesque glimmers. My favorite was when a large deposit of starstuff makes a pirate ship fly--just like the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland. I can't remember if there's actually a flying ship in the original Peter Pan or the Disney movie, but it sure makes me want to go ride the ride.

One week left in September, and I'm hoping to get through a couple of more kids' books before growing up again in September. We can't all live in Neverland!

P.S. If you'd like a more adult version of Peter Pan, see here:
http://onlygreatbooks.blogspot.com/2009/09/child-thief-by-brom.html