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Fairy tales, of course, often contain scenes which are gruesome and bloodthirsty, and young readers will be delighted to know that there are plenty of these in this book. People are hauled away by the cruel apes and murdered within earshot, and the fate of a sparrow which gets caught can be deduced by looking at the next day's menu. But if the dark scenes cause the occasional shudder, this is more than balanced by the humour. The author cheerfully adds his own droll comments to the narrative when it suits him, and his whimsical flights of fancy are a real delight. The one-toothed thief is a source of envy to his gummy colleagues; orphans who crave a mother soon learn, to their disgust, that they come packaged with as many nags as cuddles, and misunderstandings about a fish hook almost lose Peter and his companions the final battle.

If you'd like to read more extraordinary stories about orphans, try [[A Boy Called M.O.U.S.E by Penny Dolan]] or [[The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi]]. And if you fancy adding the Old West to the mix, you can't go wrong with [[The Western Mysteries: The Case of the Deadly Desperados by Caroline Lawrence]].