Muscogee Creek author Cynthia Leitich Smith (Ancestor Approved; Hearts Unbroken) reimagines J.M. Barrie's beloved yet problematic children's classic Peter Pan in this wry, immersive fantasy about female friendship, inclusivity and the meaning of family.
Although relatives remember a recent time "when the girls were inseparable and every third word out of their mouths was 'we,' " the friendship between 12-year-old stepsisters Wendy Darling and Lily Roberts has hit turbulence. Their parents are separating for the summer, with Wendy and her father traveling to New York while Lily and the girls' four-year-old brother, Michael, stay in Tulsa, Okla., with their mother. On Wendy's last night in Tulsa, Lily worries divorce means she and Wendy can't stay sisters, and Wendy is frustrated because Lily won't fly to New York with them. The tension keeps the girls from noticing "the tiny, sparkling glow, nearly hidden in the wise old oak tree" or the "crouched, shadowy figure within its branches" until Peter Pan and Belle the Fairy zip through the bedroom window. Practical Lily, who is Muscogee Creek, distrusts Peter immediately, a sentiment reinforced by his talk of "Injuns." However, his magic beguiles fanciful, white Wendy, and she accepts when he invites her and Michael to Neverland. However, the island is not exactly the Merfolk-inhabited wonderland Peter promised. Instead, it is a dystopia where Peter has destroyed the environment by hunting species to extinction and stolen children are forced to live as his companions. Guided by Peter's newly emancipated shadow, Lily sets out to rescue her siblings and stumbles upon the island's other child inhabitants: a group of tribally affiliated kids Peter kidnapped to use as scapegoats and unwilling battle foes. While Lily looks for a way to rescue all of Peter's victims, Wendy's time runs short. Her 13th birthday approaches and growing up is a betrayal Peter Pan refuses to forgive.
Smith restores Pan to his original depiction as a vain, capricious bully capable of both charming and terrorizing others, but she treats him with some compassion as well. Her adept use of a charming, third-person omniscient voice similar to Barrie's style lightens this ambitious excavation of Peter Pan's racist leanings. Wendy and Lily are flawed yet eminently competent heroines, and their empathy provides an excellent foil for Peter's narrow-minded worldview. Socially conscious readers may most appreciate Smith's supportive portrayal of blended families and Native youth, but any reader looking for a brilliant, suspenseful fantasy adventure should also find Sisters of the Neversea thrilling and tremendously fun. --Jaclyn Fulwood, youth experience manager, Dayton Metro Library
Shelf Talker In this incisive, thrilling modern version of Peter Pan, two stepsisters, one Muscogee Creek and the other white, discover Neverland is not as advertised.