Never Grow Up

Published: July 3rd, 2012
Tiger Lily
By: Jodi Lynn Anderson
Harper Teen
ISBN-13: 9780062003256

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . .

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything--her family, her future--to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

From the "New York Times" bestselling author of "Peaches" comes a magical and bewitching story of the romance between a fearless heroine and the boy who wouldn't grow up.

Review

   Tiger Lily is just fine on her own.  She has never needed anyone except for Tik Tok (her adoptive Father and shaman of her tribe), so it's okay that most of her tribe shuns her.  Then she is told that her marriage has been arranged to Giant, a harsh and cruel man in her tibe who is more than twice her age.  Escaping into the woods by both day and night to try and avoid the reality of her situation, Tiger Lily crosses paths with both the pirates and Peter Pan.  Soon she is drawn in to world of Peter and the lost boys, visiting their burrow and developing romantic feelings for Peter, who is just as headstrong and brave as Tiger Lily herself.  But when the Englishman that Tiger Lily herself rescued begins to cause upheaval in the village and problems for Tik Tok, her only real family, she must decide if she will run away and become part of Peter's world permanently or take a position in the tribe and make things right among her people.  But the decision might not be hers anymore when another ship brings the Wendy-bird to the island and she manages to take Tiger Lily's place in Peter's heart.  Can Tiger Lily let him go once and for all or will she do something that she'll regret forever?  I was alternately amazed and ambivalent while reading this book (but mostly amazed).  I loved that Anderson told the story from Tinker Bell's point of view.  It really made for some interesting observations, especially since Tinker Bell can see the thoughts and emotions inside people's heads.  I loved that Tiger Lily's people, the Sky Eaters, accepted Tik Tok's penchant for dressing like a woman AND a man.  The fierceness of Tiger Lily's aloneness and her reluctance to even let Pine Sap (pretty much her best friend in the tribe who is shunned by the other boys for being weak) in her life.  Peter is wild, crude, obnoxious and totally dangerous - yet at the same time he's thoughtful, caring, innocent, loyal and has a wonderful sense of adventure.  I loved that Tiger Lily and Peter were on pretty equal footing and the interactions with the lost boys were pretty hilarious.  The darker undertones to the book and it's semi-not-so happy ending was what made it special beautiful to me as a reader.  Yet at the same time it helped add to the feeling of disconnect that I got from Tink's narration versus having Tiger Lily tell her own story.  It was an innovative and entirely fresh re-telling and I'm glad that I read it.  I highly recommend it for Peter Pan fans, but it's not one that I will personally be re-reading.

VERDICT:  4/5  Stars

*No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in stores and online.*