PETER BREAKS THROUGH
All children, except one, grow up.
Why it was chosen
Childhood ends for almost everyone, but part of us keeps listening for the one place where it might not. Wonder is present from the beginning, already shadowed by loss.
Selected Passages
Peter and Wendy selected passages.
These sentences were chosen for Today's Passage: lines worth reading slowly, returning to, and turning into copywork.
From Today's Passage
Sentences selected with care.
THE FLIGHT
'Second to the right, and straight on till morning.'
Why it was chosen
The way to a beloved place may sound impossible to anyone else. Imagination has its own geography, precise because it belongs to longing.
THE MERMAIDS' LAGOON
It was saying, 'To die will be an awfully big adventure.'
Why it was chosen
Fear becomes bearable when imagination gives it another name. Even courage may begin as a story we tell ourselves.
COME AWAY, COME AWAY!
You see children know such a lot now, they soon don't believe in fairies, and every time a child says, 'I don't believe in fairies,' there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead.
Why it was chosen
Belief is fragile when growing older teaches the world to be clever. Something magical is lost each time wonder is treated as childish.
COME AWAY, COME AWAY!
'Wendy,' he continued, in a voice that no woman has ever yet been able to resist, 'Wendy, one girl is more use than twenty boys.'
Why it was chosen
Charm can hide selfishness when adventure turns care into someone else’s duty. Not every beautiful invitation is innocent.
THE SHADOW
Stars are beautiful, but they may not take an active part in anything, they must just look on for ever.
Why it was chosen
Beauty that only watches has its own sadness. To shine from a distance is not the same as being able to help.
THE RETURN HOME
The window must always be left open for them, always, always.'
Why it was chosen
An open window is a promise not to close the heart. Love waits best when it refuses to lock the way back.
COME AWAY, COME AWAY!
'You conceit,' she exclaimed, with frightful sarcasm; 'of course I did nothing!'
Why it was chosen
Sarcasm becomes the protest of someone expected to keep giving. Even in play, care can become invisible labor.
WHEN WENDY GREW UP
I hope you want to know what became of the other boys.
Why it was chosen
Every childhood story carries the question of what remains after the children grow. Wonder continues by finding another listener.
WHEN WENDY GREW UP
I have got you home again, and I mean to keep you.'
Why it was chosen
To bring someone home is also to risk wanting to keep them there. Love is tender, but it can become possessive when it fears loss.
'HOOK OR ME THIS TIME'
'I wonder if it would not be advisable, Starkey, to humour the hook?'
Why it was chosen
Fear can grow so intimate that even a part of oneself seems dangerous. Comedy begins where dread has become absurdly personal.
COME AWAY, COME AWAY!
Wendy had lived such a home life that to know fairies struck her as quite delightful.
Why it was chosen
Wonder often enters through the door of ordinary domestic life. A child trained to care may be especially ready to believe.
WENDY'S STORY
'If you knew how great is a mother's love,' Wendy told them triumphantly, 'you would have no fear.'
Why it was chosen
A mother’s love becomes a shelter even in a world of make-believe. The deepest courage often grows from feeling held.
WHEN WENDY GREW UP
Do you know, Jane, I sometimes wonder whether I ever did really fly.'
Why it was chosen
Memory can preserve wonder as a question rather than a certainty. The ache is in not knowing whether flight was ever fully real.
THE FLIGHT
It was really rather irritating to children who had never seen a mermaid.
Why it was chosen
Wonder is not always eager to be understood by children. Enchantment can remain beautiful and aloof, refusing to become useful.
THE HOME UNDER THE GROUND
The extraordinary upshot of this adventure was—but we have not decided yet that this is the adventure we are to narrate.
Why it was chosen
Adventure remains alive while its story is still undecided. Childhood has a way of postponing the final shape of things.
THE PIRATE SHIP
Instead, he revolved this mystery in his mind: why do they find Smee lovable?
Why it was chosen
Even vanity may hide a wish to be loved. The comic ache is wanting admiration and not knowing how to earn affection.
WHEN WENDY GREW UP
Peter came next spring cleaning; and the strange thing was that he never knew he had missed a year.
Why it was chosen
Time wounds those who grow, even when it spares the one who refuses to. Eternal childhood can be innocent and cruel at once.
THE LITTLE HOUSE
You remember she had put it on a chain that she wore round her neck.
Why it was chosen
A keepsake carries home into danger. Small tokens matter because love often travels in hidden, ordinary forms.
THE PIRATE SHIP
'I am the only man whom Barbecue feared,' he urged; 'and Flint himself feared Barbecue.'
Why it was chosen
Reputation can become a costume one must keep wearing. Some boasts are less about courage than the fear of seeming small.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES?
Wendy bound, and on the pirate ship; she who loved everything to be just so!
Why it was chosen
Orderly habits can survive even in danger. The comic tenderness lies in wanting things just so when the world has become wild.
THE RETURN HOME
Of course he knew nothing whatever about his mother; but he sometimes bragged about her.
Why it was chosen
Boasting often grows over an absence. What people brag about may be the very thing they never truly had.
PETER BREAKS THROUGH
There never was a simpler happier family until the coming of Peter Pan.
Why it was chosen
A happy family may be simple only until wonder enters through the window. Adventure is a gift, but it is also a disturbance.
THE SHADOW
It was all owing to his too affectionate nature, which craved for admiration.
Why it was chosen
Affection and vanity can live close together. Some hearts want love deeply, but still keep asking to be admired.
THE LITTLE HOUSE
All looked at him in wonder, save Nibs, who fortunately looked at Wendy.
Why it was chosen
Childhood attention can be gloriously misplaced. Its comedy lies in caring about the wrong thing with perfect seriousness.