The preface is that Ridley Pearson's daughter asked how Peter Pan and Captain Hook met. Pearson and Dave Barry (yes, that Dave Barry) decided to write a story about that very meeting. Peter and the Starcatchers is that story.


This is a story of some orphan boys, James, Tom, Prentiss, Tubby Ted and Peter, as well as a girl named Molly. These children set sail on a ship known as the Never Land, following after the Wasp, the fastest ship in the fleet. The Wasp is supposed to be carrying a treasure and Molly’s father is on board to guard it. The Never Land, on the other hand, is bound for Rundoon and King Zarboff, who is well-known for slicing off the fingers of those who annoy him – and it doesn’t take a lot to do so. The boys are being sent to Rundoon to become Zarboff’s slaves. Molly is traveling on the Never Land because her father believes it to be safer than the Wasp. And the men are loading a pair of trunks, one on each ship.

Shortly after setting sail, the Wasp is pursued by the Sea Devil, captained by the dreadful pirate, Black Stache (so known for his fabulous moustache). Black Stache is the scourge of the seas, sailing in a ship even faster than the Wasp. The Sea Devil overtakes the Wasp only to find out the treasure that Black Stache is seeking is actually on the Never Land. Scuttling the Sea Devil, Black Stache orders his men to take the Wasp and return to seek out the Never Land.



A storm rises during the hunt but Black Stache and his crew manage to overtake the Never Land and its treasure. There’s just one problem – Molly and Peter already know about the treasure – something called ‘starstuff’ – and are bent on keeping it from falling into Black Stache’s hands. They throw the trunk overboard and Peter falls in himself. The crews both attempt to save themselves, some of them managing to wind up on an unknown island.



The rest of the story is a race against each group trying to find the chest of starstuff – Peter and Molly as well as the other boys and Alf, a sailor from the Never Land who befriended the boys; Black Stache and his crew and Slank and Little Richard, the former the first mate and the latter in charge of punishment of the Never Land.



The novel is a quick read for all its length (and many, many chapters). There’s a lot of explanation wound through it for the future story of Peter Pan, though that doesn’t detract from this story at all. You might recognize a few characters in the story. The action is great and the strange things that happen when starstuff comes into contact with the natives of the island, the sailors, Molly and the boys are definitely magical.



I think the writers did a good job with this (though I’m wondering if they’d ever even heard of the prequel Barrie did for Peter Pan – Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens – which definitely would make Peter and the Starchasers an alternate universe story).



Consider it the anti-coming-of-age story – watching Peter Pan emerge from Peter is a fascinating thing.