Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry

“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.”  J.M. Barrie – Peter Pan.
Peter Pan is beloved by many and it’s not often you will meet someone who hasn’t heard of him. Since his creation in 1904 by one J.M. Barrie, people have been creating re-tellings of a boy who stays young forever and the mean old Captain Hook who wants to ruin his fun. There is always more then one point of view in a story. We have heard Peter’s story over and over again, and you may have even heard Wendy’s take on the whole thing, but have you wondered about Captain James Hook’s side? Wondered why or how he got to Neverland? My history teacher once told me that “history is written by the victors and why would a victor paint themselves as the bad guy?”  Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry shows a new frightening view of our hero Peter Pan and the maybe not so bad James.

Lost Boy starts years before Wendy,   pixie dust or even before the island had gotten its name. It follows a young Captain Hook, better known at the time as Jamie. Jamie is a smart, caring, strong kid who has been by Peter Pan’s side for years and years, so long in fact that he barely remembers a life without the wonderful Peter Pan. He is known as one of the original Lost Boys and second in command to Peter. They fight pirates, hunt meat for dinner and swim with the mermaids together. But there’s a huge difference in Peter and Jamie – Peter hasn’t grown one inch since he received Jamie from the other world. Jamie on the other hand has been slowly growing and recently has been growing faster. Peter sees the Lost Boys like toys, easy to replace. Jamie however wants the boys to stay healthy and safe. These contradicting views start to put pressure on Jamie and Peter’s friendship and starts dividing the Lost Boys.  Jamie is growing and the games are no longer fun. But how do you say no to the boy who never grows up and what would happen if you did?

Lost Boy is one of my all time favourite re-telling of Peter Pan I’ve read so far. It’s dark and twisted and completely changed the way I view Peter Pan and James Hook. I loved it so much I even read Christina Henry’s other books: The Girl In Red and Mermaid.  I would recommend those too! That being said Lost Boy can be a hard read for some, it’s very gory and people do die. If you’re ready to have your world shaken up by this unique re-telling please check it out!

Patience Marino-Hutton – http://www.tbpl.ca