Peter and the Star Catchers
Peter and the Star Catchers (original title: Peter and the Starcatchers ) is a book for young people by the American authors Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson , which tells an alternative history to Peter Pan . The novel was published in 2004 by Disney Hyperion , the German edition in 2006 by Oetinger . The illustrations are by Greg Call, the German translation by Gerda Bean. The follow-up volumes are Peter and the Shadow Thieves and Peter and the Secret of Rundoon .
action
Because of his spitting skills, Peter is the leader of the orphan boys from the Sankt-Norbert-Heim. One day he and four other boys are supposed to be brought to the king in Rundoon to work as a slave there. The boys are starving on the ship “Never Land” until Peter decides to get some food. But instead of finding the pantry, he discovers a chest with a mighty content. Molly, a wealthy girl who knows what's inside, tells Peter that stardust is being carried in the chest. Stardust gives magical powers. B. Humans fly or transform animals into incredible creatures. Molly's father is a star catcher. He ensures that the stardust doesn't fall into the wrong hands. The chest should actually be on the Wasp , the ship Molly's father travels on. The wasp , supposedly the fastest ship at sea, was captured by Schwarzbart, the dreaded pirate. And he wants the chest that was accidentally shipped on the “Never Land”.
After the pirates have taken over the “Never Land”, Peter manages to throw the box overboard, whereupon it drifts to the island of Mollusk. The pirates follow the chest to the island. The "Never Land" is sinking. Only the four orphan boys, Peter, Molly, two sailors and the ship's 1st mate, Slank, survive. Locals live on the island who want to feed the boys to Mr. Grins, a giant crocodile. With Molly's help they escape and Peter finally finds the chest that one of the surviving sailors and Slank have already appropriated. But the stardust has turned the female fish that came too close to the chest into mermaids . After Peter saves the life of one of them, they give him the chest that they had taken from the men. But Slank takes Molly hostage in order to get the chest in exchange from Peter. Before returning it, Peter takes out a small, leaky box that contains the stardust. This is how Molly and the stardust are saved. Finally Lord Aster, Molly's father, comes and wants to take the stardust with him, but Blackbeard also wants the chest. He stabs the chief of the local population, who is saved by Peter with the stardust. Peter manages to cut off Black Beard's hand. The crocodile eats them up and only wants Black Beard. The pirates build a fortress at the other end of the island.
In the end, Lord Aster explains that when Peter took out the box, with so much stardust, he should have died. Therefore, it will now be able to fly forever and will never age. He asks if Peter would like to go back to London with him and Molly . But Peter refuses. He wants to stay on the island. The other orphan boys too, and since the chief now owed Peter something, he allows it. To take care of Peter, he sprinkles a bird with stardust so that it becomes a fairy who Peter calls Tinker Bell. Slank, who was driven out to sea in a boat, is rescued from a ship after a few days on the high seas, Molly and her father go back to London with the second surviving sailor and Peter and the "lost boys" stay with them Islanders, the pirates and the crocodile on the island.
Reviews
"The book clarifies many questions and provides a logical one, provided that this can be said for a fantasy novel with flying children and mermaids, the prehistory of Peter Pan's adventures in Never Land."