ReadMOre - "Peter and the Shadow Thieves"

The ReadMOre project is encouraging people to read a trilogy of young adult books by Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry. I mentioned Peter and the Starcatchers last month, the first of the series. The books are a prequel, in a manner of speaking, to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan stories a century ago. They are not strictly obedient to Barrie's story line, however, but reorganize some of the story to suit their fancy, I suppose.

The second book, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, was also a page-turner for me. I think the reason I can read and enjoy youth fiction is because inside me is the youth I once was, and still am, in some ring of my memory.

My theory of the human being is that we are built up like onions, in layers of experience and memory, and that the current outer layer is complicated not just by personality, but by all the feelings of need, hurt, trust, joy, pain, and hope that reside as remembered interpretations in the layers of what we once were. In short, we are what we were, though with perspective, if not wisdom.

I am not quoting the song, Sorry, Grateful from the Broadway musical, Company, either. "...you always are what you always were, which has nothing to do with, all to do with her." I'm not saying people never change. People change as their "interpretations" change. What doesn't change is their storehouse of experience.

Like the storerooms of objects in museums, these human experiences can be reinterpreted, arranged into different patterns for reflection. We do not always have to be scared of the dark, though we can carry our memory of fear as we "take ourselves by the hand" into dark places.
Peter and the Shadow Thieves is about the fear of darkness and its cultural meanings. It's also about the hope of being in the light, particularly with someone special. If you've ever wanted to enter the light with that special someone, this is a book you can enjoy.

Having not much of a clue how to write a discussion guide for this book, I wrote a piece for the ReadMOre blog on the challenge of writing youth fantasy for readers who have absorbed the imaginary world created by J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter stories. If you've anything to add to my piece, please add a comment to the blog. That's why we're using that interactive medium!