My son just finished reading Peter Pan and listening to the book on tape of The Wind in the Willows. Being a very sensitive child, he really didn't care for Peter Pan. In particular, he didn't care for Tinkerbell. I don't think he even clapped to bring her back to life. "She's very obnoxious," was his exact phrase. Well, yeah, after all she did try numerous times to get rid of Wendy, so I guess premeditated attempted murder could qualify as obnoxious. The only character he liked to any extent was Slightly.
Just for fun, I had him compare Peter and Mr. Toad. We discussed their recklessness and their self-centered attitudes. Both characters tend to forget their lessons, which serves to keep them in the savage boy state. Both were very good at making up their own rules to justify their behavior and weren't above committing crimes to achieve their goals. It makes you wonder, why did Peter want a mother? I think he had the idea of mother confused with the idea of servant or nursemaid. In the end, my son preferred Mr. Toad, who finally came around, made his restitutions (albeit grudgingly) and decided to grow up.
I guess I should hold off on having him read The Lord of the Flies.
After Dinner Update: Apparently, everything got jumbled from my ear to my brain. Or maybe my son has Peter Pan memory loss. Or I shouldn't have tried to do a book discussion before he ate. At any rate, I've now been told that he likes Peter better because it would be cool live in Never Land (but he would like to grow up.)
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