Sisters of the Neversea audiobook

A fresh look at Peter Pan in a tale that honors the Barrie original without glossing over its flaws. This sweet and exciting novel puts family, community, and kindness first. A great read!

If you love retellings, then you'll love Sisters of the Neversea - an indigenous retelling of Peter Pan that centers on step-sisters Wendy and Lily. This book is so much fun and so wondrous; I adored it.- Follows English Wendy and Native-American Lily, step-sisters whose parents are on the verge of divorce, who are whisked off to Neverland by the mischievous and mysterious Peter Pan. - I LOVED the angle that this retelling took. It captures the wonder and adventure of Peter Pan, but also explores and critiques the colonial undertones, misogyny, and racist depictions of Native-Americans inherent in the original story. - I also really enjoyed how this story gives the fairy, Belle, more autonomy and more of a character. She isn't just infatuated with Peter - she has depth! I also liked how the story explores Peter's character too; it lays his faults and issues plainly, but also manages to make you... empathise with him?- The storytelling in this was wonderful; it breaks the fourth-wall often and I just loved how it makes you feel like you, the reader, are in on what's going on with the narrator. - This was such a wondrous adventure, one that is full of surprises and familiarity. Content warning: mentions of death, mild violence

(#gifted @harperkids/@theshelfstuff #HeartDrum)For years and years, there have been retelling of Peter Pan and in theatre I’ve seen debates about how a Peter Pan adaptation can respectfully represent Native characters. And generally the answer is you can’t do it. You can’t stick close to the original storyline and do justice to Indigenous people, and you can’t just get ride of the Native characters (a form of erasure).What Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee Creek Nation) has done is created is much more than a retelling, she’s written a new story that stands on its own. Of course the answer was to have an Indigenous person re-write the story and reclaim the narrative. I loved the two sisters who are grappling with a shift in their family structure and trying to figure out how it will change their relationship. There was a great representation in all of the Neverland characters from the Lost, the Native kids, and pirates. I appreciated the characterization of Peter Pan as the source of everyone’s problems, which is a shift I’ve seen in a couple other retelling... and honestly the only way it makes sense to me now. In terms of the writing style, I really enjoyed the use of third person narration for the book. It felt very much like we were being told a story, and the storytellers were the stars.I 1000% recommend this book to adult and middle grade readers alike. And if you are a middle school librarian get this for your library ASAP, along with all the other HeartDrum titles coming out this year. The fact that there’s a major imprint for Native kids titles is huge.

Sisters of the Neversea is a powerful and magical Indigenous retelling of Peter Pan. The story follows stepsisters Wendy (English) and Lily (Muscogee Creek). Wendy and her stepbrother are lured to Neverland by Peter Pan. Lily ends up separated. Wendy and Lily both have to find a way back to each other and hurry before they understand what it means to become one of the Lost. Smith blew me away with this retelling. Smith takes the magic and wonder of Neverland and Peter Pan and unapologetically exposes the harmful depiction of Native Americans in this classic story and turns the narrative into Indigenous children being the heroes of this story. While I can’t speak to specifics about Indigenous representation (please see own voices reviewers), I will note that Smith includes Indigenous children from multiple tribes throughout the story to highlight the different tribes in history since Neverland doesn’t age. If you’re looking for a fresh take on Peter Pan with some characters that you will immediately fall in love with then this is your book! Thank you to HarperKids for providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

I am a total sucker for retellings, and Sisters of the Neversea completely lived up to my expectations! I do want to mention that I have never read Peter Pan, but I have heard that a lot of the ideas in it are hurtful and wrong. Sisters of the Neversea completely reworks Peter Pan, and it shows Pan’s brutalness and cruelty in an eye opening way. Lily and Wendy are step sisters whose parents are considering separating. They’re unsure about what will happen to their family and their friendship, and in the midst of this uncertainty, the boy who never grows up whisks them away to Neverland. But the magic land is much darker than it seems, and Lily and Wendy might not make it out of there alive. As an Asian American girl, I know how impactful it is to see yourself in literature. That’s why even though I’m a little too old for middle grade, I can’t help but be excited when I see such diverse books. Children need to see themselves as heroes in entertainment, and I’m so happy more and more people are highlighting different characters. Sisters of the Neversea fulfills these expectations perfectly! It didn’t just showcase diverseness in ethnicity, but it also showed how family is not just blood. When Peter says all stepmothers are evil, Wendy is quick to disagree. Lily and Wendy were sisters, and they were not about to have anyone tell them otherwise. While there are so many amazing themes in here, this was a great book in itself. It had an older style with an all knowing third person narrator. There aren’t a ton of books left like this, so it was definitely a fun change. And it made it easier to follow the story without being confused. There were a lot of fun twists and turns that made this book even more interesting. And I liked how you could tell there was a history to this island. Wendy and Lily weren’t the first children to go there, and the end to those children were far darker than they could imagine. Sisters of the Neversea showed how evil Pan could be, and how messed up he was while still showing redemption. A few things to mention though is this is a little bit darker and more violent. It might be wise for parents to talk through some of the book with their children, and there is also a half spirit in the book. But this was a gorgeous book that is needed in this day and age. It shows how people that are different from us are still human, and they deserve respect and love. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants some diversity in their book diet!I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the publisher through Netgalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion, a positive review was not required.

This is a stunning revisionist fairy tale that reimagines Peter Pan from the point of view of two stepsisters, Lily Roberts who is Muscogee Creek and Wendy Darling, a white English-born girl. Like many, I grew up with Peter Pan and although there are still elements of the story that I find enchanting, I have no interest in revisiting the Barrie’s original novel or many of its adaptations because of racism and sexism those works are so deeply entrenched in. With Sisters of the Neversea, Leitich Smith captures the wonder of Neverland while reimagining its inhabitants to critique Barrie’s novel and allow Lily and Wendy to take back their story. While the book is itself a response to the harm done by the problematic representation of Barrie's work, the way in which stereotypes dehumanize marginalized people and lead to violence against them is also engaged with at a narrative level. Pan’s own mistreatment of Native kids living in Neverland stems from the stereotypes he has learned from the old Western storybooks about "cowboys and Indians” that he reads. The book offers such a rich discussion of the effects of representation and deals with larger themes of colonization within a beautifully written and constantly engaging fantasy adventure. I cannot say enough about this incredible, important middle grade novel! It is an absolute must-read!

I got so, so into this reimagined version of Peter Pan in which the focus is on representation, community, family, and -still- the adventures of its amazing characters.

A thoroughly re-imagined Peter Pan starring a blended UK and American Indian sibling group who confront the racist Injun tropes in the Disney movie with their deep reverence to Native cultures and peoples. There's a much more complicit and purposeful Tinkerbell as well as a disturbingly murderous Peter who kidnaps children and disposes of them when they reach the age of 13. While some of the resolutions at the end are wrapped up in a hurry, there is so much fun to be had as the siblings try to figure out how to fly back home, discover a group of Native children Peter stole and who are hiding out away from the Lost Boys, as well as how they escape the tick-tock-ticking of the ravenous crocodile and the not-playful mermaids who want the humans gone from Neverland. Add in a cute tiger cub and all kinds of Easter eggs and you've got a darkly sparkling, fairy-dust-as-human-drug read perfect for Pan fans and those who don't know the story inside and out...although you will have more fun if you do.

I enjoyed this retelling of Peter Pan - because Peter was a real villain in this one. I loved the way they explained his relationship with Native American people, and the author also explained how it was wrong. My favorite aspect was how Lily and the kids she met remembered where they were from and who they were, while the Lost kids did not. I didn’t care how the narrator talked to the reader, but maybe the kids would like it, and maybe it’s the only way to get through to the reader some of the points the book was trying to make…

I was already enjoying this throughout, but then Cynthia Leitich Smith surprised me in the best way and I fully loved this book! What wonderful characters, what a clever retelling, and what beautiful things to say about family and love and the possibility of change.CW: Grief, racism, slurs against Native people, hunting, animal death, references to transphobia

Review Copy: Digital ARC via NetgalleyCynthia Leitich Smith reimagined Neverland and the adventures of Peter Pan. The original story has been problematic since it was created, but there was much about it to love. Smith has found a way to address some of the racist depictions of Indigenous folks along with a few of the gender role issues too. In this retelling, the children are from a blended family with a British father and a mother who is part of the Muscogee Creek Nation. The children are feeling unsettled because of conflict between their parents and in the midst of this, Peter Pan arrives on the scene. He and Tinkerbell are very charming and appealing to Michael and Wendy, but Lily is not convinced that he is trustworthy. He uses words like Injuns which offends them all and calls them useless girls since they can't sew properly. Lily informs his that her mother is brilliant at math and managing money. I love it when Wendy informs Peter that their dad also didn't teach them how to sew. Of course the children do end up in Neverland, but it is not as carefree and lovely as Peter made it out to be. As in the original, Peter is pretty focused on himself and does not take advice or instruction well. Though he delivers on adventure, he is not concerned with the needs of the children and he has a lot of "wrongheaded" ideas about Native children. There are other children already on the island including Daniel who is Leech Lake Ojibwe from St. Paul. Through Daniel and others, readers see that Native people are still alive and that there is a great deal of variety among them. Lily and the others also appreciate their cultural identity and their family members more as time passes. Recommendation: Sisters of the Neversea is a fantastic way to visit the world of Neverland again without having to see the damaging stereotypical Natives. It is a great adventure story even for those who are unfamiliar with Peter Pan. Siblings fall out and feelings are hurt, but love is still there and of course there are fairies and merpeople along with pirates so it's going to be a crowd pleaser. This story is a lot of fun and has great representation. I plan to purchase it for my elementary school library and I believe it will be a great addition to any library serving young people.

This is an interesting update on the Peter Pan story. I've never been a big fan of old, i.e. "classic," children's tales. Many of them, like Peter Pan, just never struck a chord with me. Not the movies, nor the Disney versions.In this version, Peter Pan is like a prejudiced middle aged man in the body of a child who stubbornly refuses to acknowledge he ever grew up or change the way he views the universe and everyone in it. Which is not far from, dare I say exactly, how he was depicted in the original, but gone is the turn-of-the-century veneer of "boys will be boys" mentality (it was first written in 1904), the racism and sexism are blatant and all Peter's flaws are laid bare in this retelling.Peter still sees Wendy through her house window and wants her to be the storyteller to his Lost Boys. But this time, he has to get her away from her Muscogee Creek sister, Lily. Peter'll happily leave her behind because he can't conceive of her being anything other than an "Injun" (wince every time), and he thinks the island has all of those it needs. To get Wendy to fly away with him, he takes her toddler brother, Michael, who he doesn't really care about either, but is willing to accept as a Lost Boy until he can kick him out to join the other Native kids stuck on the island.Lily is shocked when her half-sister and brother disappear. The family is teetering on divorce, however, so instead of alerting her family to their disappearance and getting help, she gets Peter's dislocated shadow to help fly her across the Neversea so she can rescue her sister and brother. The shadow deposits her on the island far away from her sister and Peter, with the other Native kids from several different tribes who're trapped there. The major flaw in her plan is she has no idea how she's going to get them all home.Once on the wonky island, Lily learns how horribly Peter treats pretty much everyone who doesn't conform to his ideas of who they are and how they should behave, including the dreaded pirates and Captain Hook -- who's a woman just trying to break free of the island, not the hook-handled Peter-obsessed version from the movies and Disney treatments over the decades. It's cringe-inducing, every time, and Peter is not at all a likeable character. In the 21st century, there's very little to like about a character who clings to prejudices and stereotypes that are rapidly fading.Peter does have a somewhat redemptive arc. There's still a ticking crocodile obsessed with eating whatever child it can catch, and Belle, the fairy, features prominently and has her own arc -- she comes to see and somewhat regret how she's enabled Peter to become such a horrid human being. Interestingly, the author breaks the 4th wall a lot to talk directly to the reader, which is a different narrative voice than I've seen in middle grade before. It can be quite effective in retaining readers.The book also excellently showcases the prejudices and bigotry of the time period, the turn of the century. Women had only been recognized in US courts for a few decades and still couldn't vote. The Civil Rights era was decades away and racism toward anyone not-white, particularly Native peoples in this tale, is exposed as grotesque. It would make for an excellent comparative text analysis of how outdated many aspects of the original "beloved fairy tale" truly are.It's a quick read. Enjoy!Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students? Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/

This is the best interpretation of Peter Pan I have ever seen. It’s also one of only two I’ve ever seen that tackles the original source material’s treatment of native people. And to be honest, I wasn’t thrilled with the other one because it just excuses their misrepresentation and loss of identity. This book on the other hand digs beneath the glossed over veneer of Peter and Wendy (Peter Pan) and finds the rotted foundation and termite infested wood it’s been hiding for more than a century.

Incredible. I adored this book. It was such a clever take on the Peter Pan story, beautifully recognizing and giving voice to the Native children in the tale (as to be expected from such an incredibly gifted Native author). Here we see that Peter Pan is a jerk (and has often been) but isn't perhaps without redemption. The narration is omniscient and talking directly to the reader, guiding us to where we need to be. I really hope this gets serious Newbery contention.

A marvelous retelling of Peter Pan focused on the experiences of Lily and Wendy. Fun, adventurous and magical with values imbedded in both subtle and obvious ways.