A beautiful reimagining of Peter Pan. So full of emotion. And those splashes of color, just wow. I definitely want to get a hard copy for my book shelf.

A perfect personification of the obscurities and realities of grief..

What happens if you take the old story of Peter Pan and put a modern spin on it.

This story is the story of Wendy and how her brother was taken away by Peter Pan.

Or is it the story of how she lost her brother in a car accident, and they never found her brother's body, and she can't accept it.

You can read it either way. If you read it with the idea that this other world, the colorful world, is real, I think it makes for a much more interesting story than if you read it as she is crazy, and this is all in her head.

The fantasy world, the Peter Pan world, is very colorful, and the real is in dull tones. It is beautifully illustrated, and a quick read.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Retellings are beyond popular - and I am a particular fan of them. Some involve the fantasy world colliding with the real world (as in Alice in Wonderland retellings where in she is psychotic - or at least perceived as psychotic). Peter Pan in particular is popular for retellings. It is also popular for theories - one prevalent one being that the lost boys are all dead and Peter is their guardian angel.

The Wendy Project plays into these ideas. We follow Wendy's point of view through her journal/sketchbook after a devastating accident where-in her brother dies - though Wendy believes him alive, and that he has simply been taken away. We see her coping with this lose and these ideas - both her high school life and ideas of Neverland in her art, colors used to differentiate reality and fantasy, and we are generally left as unsure as Wendy is.

It is well written, and the artwork is gorgeous. I particularly liked the interspersing of Peter Pan quotes from JM Barrie.

My only issue is that its quite short - and so didn't go into the depth that it had the potential to, and feels quite abrupt at the end.

But overall, I really enjoyed it.

** spoiler alert ** What attracted me originally to this graphic novel was the beautiful cover. I was walking down the aisle at a book conference and the colors just grabbed me. Throughout the book Veronica Fish uses color--bright vivid color such as you see on the cover--sparingly to illustrate the "real world" (in monochromatic grays, blacks and white) versus the world that when Wendy needs to escape from her grief. Its telling that when the story shifts to Neverland (later on) its a complete explosion of colors and when we come back to the real world those colors slowly introduce themselves into the comic as Wendy learns to accept her choices.

I felt for Wendy and I wondered how much was truly happening and how much was her need for closure. Sometimes, especially when grief is strong and the world seems so...hostile, its easy to believe something so fantastical is preferable. And the guilt she carried...

I've never made secret my intense dislike of Peter Pan. Finding out Barrie meant him to be the actual villain of the book originally made my day because he's always, always, come off that way to me (in the actual book, many versions of him paint him less creepy/malevolent and more careless/oblivious/selfish). Here...he's not the problem. Not really. Oh he's not helpful, but he does make several good points to Wendy that she doesn't want to believe and he does help her in the end.

This story is very much a handbook of what happens when you become so wrapped up in something it isolates you. Several times throughout Wendy neglects to think of the consequences of her actions in an effort to prove her belief right. She pushes people away and behaves self destructively. When she does realize how her actions have maybe not been the best for her brother John, she attempts to pull away...only to give in and go deeper.

At times the book was confusing - it never really answers whether this is all a delusion to comfort herself or if it really happens. There's some high school drama that gets in the way a little and her parents come off not very sympathetic for most of the book. As we see things from Wendy's point of view, their actions come off cold and abrupt, with little nuance into their own feelings until nearer the end when Wendy starts to recognize how much she's ignored.

16-year-old Wendy Davies crashes her car into a lake with her two younger brothers in the backseat. She awakens in the hospital where she discovers her youngest brother, Michael, is dead. Her brother John is mute as a result of mental trauma. She works through her own issues using Peter Pan as an overarching theme which makes for a great story. Have some tissues handy. I certainly did.

I read a review of this book in School Library Journal, and I am always on the lookout for new graphic novels for my collection, so when I saw that it was available, I snapped it up. It's not quite what I expected - less linear and more stream of consciousness. I like the art a lot, especially the pops of color that are used to convey Wendy's feelings and acceptance of/recovery from grief. It's a quiet story, and I think I will need to hand-sell it, but I can see some of my more sophisticated readers enjoying it.

Etherial, enigmatic, and absolutely mesmerizing - this modern twist on a classic story is a gripping and hauntingly beautiful read. Would I recommend this book? Absolutely! I'd even go so far as to tag it as a must read for teens dealing with loss.

Oh the colors! I loved the use of color to show the importance of the story.

It really shows how adults do not take children seriously and that parents need to spend more time listening than "Talking At" their children.


The ending was unexpected but still so good. I loved all the mystery in this book!