Peter and the Shadow Thieves

I became a Dave Barry fan back in the mid-nineties when the sitcom about his fictional self, "Dave's World," was on t.v. I started reading his newspaper column and loved his dry sense of humor. When I heard he was writing kids' books--about Peter Pan, no less--I had to check them out. I read the first book in the prequel trilogy, Peter and the Starcatchers, a couple of years ago. Co-penned with Ridley Pearson, it told how Peter got his magical flying and anti-aging powers.

I normally don't like it when authors write about characters created by more famous authors. Case in point: all the terrible Pride and Prejudice spin-offs. But these books are really pretty good. The second in the series, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, continues in the mythology set up in the first. There is a secret society of Starcatchers, whose job it is to ensure that the potently magical starstuff stays out of the wrong hands and is retrieved in the mystical Return. Of course, being an adventure story, all goes awry and Peter must save the day in a dashing climax equal to any of the Harry Potter books. Well, almost.

The real Peter Pan author, J. M. Barrie, even makes a cameo in this book. As Peter and Molly, mother to the future Wendy Darling, are racing through London they stop to ask Mr. Barrie for directions. "Second path to the right," he advises, naturally. I look forward to continuing my own personal Children's Book Month and reading the third book in the planned trilogy (although a fourth book has just been published), Peter and the Secrets of Rundoon.