Tiger Lily
4/5
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About this ebook
In this stunning reimagining of J. M. Barrie's beloved classic Peter Pan, New York Times bestselling author Jodi Lynn Anderson expertly weaves a gripping tale of love, loss, and adventure.
When fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan deep in the forbidden woods of Neverland, the two form an unbreakable bond. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. And yet, she is willing to risk everything—her family, her future—to be with him.
Then an English girl named Wendy Darling arrives on the island. With dangers tightening around them, Tiger Lily soon finds out how far she is willing to go to keep Peter with her in Neverland…and discovers that the deadliest enemies lurk inside even the most loyal and loving heart.
Jodi Lynn Anderson
Jodi Lynn Anderson is the bestselling author of several critically acclaimed books for young people, including the May Bird trilogy, the Thirteen Witches series, and My Diary from the Edge of the World. She lives with her husband, son, and daughter in Asheville, North Carolina, and holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College.
Read more from Jodi Lynn Anderson
Full-Blooded Fantasy: 8 Spellbinding Tales in Which Anything Is Possible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Loser/Queen Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My Diary from the Edge of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vanishing Season Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
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Reviews for Tiger Lily
311 ratings53 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title to be a spin-off of the Peter Pan story that is exceptionally moving and unique. The rich poetic storytelling and fresh perspective make it one of the best books they've read in ages. The author is highly praised and the book is highly recommended. Overall, readers love this book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As a fan of Peter Pan, (the book and all of the movies), I was excited to hear of a book that told a different side to the story. Tinker Bell is our narrator in Tiger Lily, but as the title suggests, Tiger Lily is the focal point. Tink states at the beginning that this is a love story, and it is, but it is also so much more. It shows the loneliness, brave front, and longing both Peter Pan and Tiger Lily suffer from, and how these overshadow the bravery and courage they are known to have. The original Peter Pan shows a darkness to Neverland often not portrayed in the movies. I think Tiger Lily takes it a step farther and explores the emotional darkness present there as well. For me, the last 25% of the book really displays the emotional starkness of living forever, playing pretend, and wading through love. This book adds another dimension to a beloved story line and for that, I am grateful.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Full of imagination and deep emotions. I was thrilled that we saw so much of Tink as the narrator in this story as well. This story made the characters seem very realistic and believable, while still maintaining the magic of Neverland.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lessons to be learned no matter the age of the character or the reader.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This spin-off of Peter Pan story is so good. Really love it!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I thought it was amazing but the ending could of been better.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5“Let me tell you something straight off. This is a love story, but not like any you've ever heard. The boy and the girl are far from innocent. Dear lives are lost. And good doesn't win.”
Halfway through reading Tiger Lily, I was sure that this would end up being a 4-star-read. After finishing that last note, that last P.S., I realized how wrong I was.
At that point it hit me that Tiger Lily made it to the top of my 2013 favorites list, catching me by surprise and leaving me at a loss for words. It left behind a plethora of emotions, with only my tears to keep me company.
At least to me, there is a huge barrier dividing the ratings of 4 and 5 stars. 4 stars are dedicated to enjoyable reads. They bring a smile to your face, they entertain you, and throw in some beautiful prose, and you've got yourself a solid 4-star read.
Books like Tiger Lily are an entirely different matter. They haunt you through the night. They provide some sort of insight into life no 4-star read could manage to do. It is not necessary that they bring you happiness; rather they succeed in infuriating you, depressing you, and ripping your heart to shreds. They make you think about like itself, through a clear, real scope, instead of a sweetened one. They tattoo themselves on your subconscious, with or without your approval, and will continue to joyously torment you for the rest of your days. They are, unarguably, unique masterpieces that deliver with a bang.
Beyond this, I’m a bit tongue-tied. I could discuss how my pitiful sobs wrecked me hours after reading this, or how the mere sight of the book’s cover will cause me to inadvertently choke up from the memory of this book. But, I will leave that to you as a reader to experience.
Tiger Lily is not a traditional fairy-tale retelling. I am obligated to warn you: I highly doubt it can be described as full of adventure and magic and playfulness. In other words, it’s not like the Disney movie. That’s not its purpose. Its purpose it to tell the story of the commonly overlooked Tiger Lily; her hardships, her maturity, her struggle. I would even venture to say this is a coming-of-age novel in its own right.
Tinker Bell is our narrator in this story. I won’t even pretend I liked her at the beginning. While not completely reliable, she is probably one of the best narrators I've had the pleasure of reading. I love her so much more, now that I've been exposed to the other side of Peter Pan’s story, and for her narration I am grateful.
At this very moment, weeks after finishing the novel, I am still caught up in the lush setting of Neverland, with its mysterious forest and exotic plants. Ms. Anderson captures the setting so effectively that it is so easy to imagine myself there, alongside Tiger Lily and Peter and the Lost Boys (not you Wendy).
As I've mentioned earlier, the goal of this retelling is to provide us with an alternative story to the one we were exposed to since childhood. Ms. Anderson creatively takes a unique approach to this story, staying true to the original while adding her own brilliance to the story, leaving us with an utterly phenomenal and enchanting read.
The writing, of course, was captivating as well. It just captures the very essence of Neverland perfectly.
Technically, the plot is based around the romance of Tiger Lily and Peter. Normally, I would abhor this and go on a lengthy rant about how much it annoyed me. I actually ended up loving it. I would even say that it’s my favorite part of the story. NOT Wendy and Peter’s romance, though.
“How can I describe Peter's face, the pieces of him that stick to my heart? Peter sometimes looked aloof and distant; sometimes his face was open and soft as a bruise. Sometimes he looked completely at Tiger Lily, as if she were the point on which all the universe revolved, as if she were the biggest mystery of life, or as if she were a flame and he couldn't not look even though he was scared. And sometimes it would all disappear into carelessness, confidence, amusement, as if he didn't need anyone or anything on this earth to feel happy and alive.”
*sobs*
I highly doubt I will forget this story anytime soon.
On a side note, when I was watching Disney version of Peter Pan a few days ago, I never noticed how terribly whitewashed it was. I mean, look at how they portrayed Tiger Lily’s dad:
I even think there is a song about them being "red". -___- - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Originally posted at The Scribbling Sprite
“Let me tell you something straight off. This is a love story, but not like any you've ever heard. The boy and the girl are far from innocent. Dear lives are lost. And good doesn't win.”
A charming little fairy came to me one night and whispered in my ear, her voice a dainty tinkling of bells. She told me of this wonderful little story, about a mystical girl called Tiger Lily. Needless to say, I was intrigued. Not one to disregard the urging of such otherworldly creatures, I found and read the book she spoke of. It was love at first sentence.
It is the girl's(Tiger Lily's) story, but it is told through the eyes of a very extraordinary fairy--Tinker Bell, as she is later named. Tinker-Bell shadows Tiger Lily, knows all about her, and Tiger Lily tolerates Tinker Bell. That we're informed of the goings on of Tiger Lily's life through the eyes of someone else may seem odd, but it lends an air of mystery to her character. And it didn't lessen the connection I felt with her.
When Tink first introduces us to Tiger Lily, she is cryptic. Mysterious. Intimidating even, but so incredibly fascinating.
“I'm not myself," she offered, guiltily. She softened around Tik Tok, and when she did she was, for those rare moments, girlish.
He smiled. "You can never say that. You're just a piece of yourself right now that you don't like.”
We see her shunned by the other children of the village. We see her through her insecurities and doubts(the ones she tries so hard not to show).
“Everyone will think I'm ugly."
Tik Tok smiled. "That's true. But we are a small village. We have narrow tastes. There's no telling who else in the world would think you're beautiful.”
We experience her precious relationship with her father, the tribe's leader.
“You love me," she said. "That's enough. We love each other."
"Yes. Yes, that's true." He[Tik Tok] smiled. "We are a love story.”
We watch her fall in love.
“To love someone was not what she had expected. It was like falling from somewhere high up and breaking in half, and only one person having the secret to the puzzle of putting her back together.”
We're introduced to a variety of quirky characters, from the lovable, girl-crazy lost boys, to the loyal Pine Sap, to the despondent Captain Hook and psychopathic Smee.
And then there's Peter. He is spirited and peculiar and bold. And too funny for his own good.
“We should have a funeral," he said.
Pan held his hands clasped in a tent on his lap, and he bowed his head.
He seemed to be trying to recall something, and it was a long time before he finally said, "Our Father. Our Father. Our Father. Amen."
Then he leaned back, and his face was blank again. He smiled, all white teeth. "There.”
I have to warn you about this book. You'll get to be where you're so caught up in the fate of the characters, and in the love story--but in the end it's not really a romance at all. It's a riveting fairy tale, a breathtaking adventure you don't want to end.
And when it does....you're filled with a curious sense of fulfillment and a raw aching....and a love for an ending that is so bittersweet and beautiful. At least, that's how I felt.
If you're seeking a typical Happily Ever After kind of tale, you can keep looking. Because Ms. Anderson has redefined what a happy ending really is.
With writing that is utterly beautiful in its simplicity, this is a tear-jerking, heart-wrenching story of one girl, told through the eyes of a fairy who loves her.
“Still, the longer I was around her, the more I could see the colors of her mind and the recesses of her heart. There was a beast in there. But there was also a girl who was afraid of being a beast, and who wondered if other people had beasts in their hearts too. There was strength, and there was also just the determination to look strong. She guarded herself like a secret.”
"You think you know that someone sees you one way, and barely at all, and then you realize that they see you in another. That was the night I realized Tiger Lily had seen- really seen- me all along.”
Content: Clean--no profanity that I can recall, but there is one scene where a boy and girl lie next to each other(Nothing happens). - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This did not end happily! I never liked Wendy and I haven't changed my mind after reading this book - she was the villain in this book, not Hook. Tiger Lily, however, was a lovely character although very lonely with her independent spirit. The romance between Peter and Tiger Lily was sweet, however, at times I wanted to bang their heads together in frustration as they were so unsure of each other and naive about their feelings. I really liked how the author chose Tinkerbell to narrate the story. Her voice was unique with interesting perspectives of the various characters and on the unfolding events. This is a prequel to J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan" and is a nice, heart-wrenching story about friendship and first love.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was one of the best books I’ve read in ages. Rich poetic storytelling and deeply heartbreaking and exceptionally moving at the same time. Such a unique and fresh perspective on Peter Pan. Read this.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I’m afraid my hopes were a little too high for this book. I like the premise, but to me it fell a little short. I thought the character development was good, but there just wasn’t enough “oomph” to the story. It just wasn’t all that interesting to me. Maybe that’s a bit harsh, after all, the story of Peter Pan is so well known and written that it has big shoes to fill. It was an okay story – just not a page-turner. I did like that the narrator was Tinker Bell, and I liked the Tiger Lily character. I felt some things were mentioned that either didn’t fit or needed more development in the story.Would I recommend this to my BFF? Probably not. There are better things out there to read with the little leisure time she has.Would I recommend this to my teen daughter? Maybe, but I wouldn’t tell her it’s a “must read.”3.5 of 4 stars.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I didn't know when I started this book that it was told from Tinker Bells PoV, and I actually ended up enjoying it. I feel like the story was a bit slow at parts though, but it still resembled the story of Peter Pan we all know and love. I would recommend it, but prepare your feels. 4 out of 5 stars.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I feel the need to go & read Peter Pan again after this. Tiger Lily gets a back story, and it's a right rollicking tale. The world that's built is convincing and builds on what you remember of the Peter Pan story. The narrator is Tinkerbell and as a silent observer she makes for a good narrator. The changes that come as a result of Tiger Lily's own actions are many and varied. The implications change her life for ever. As in a lot of YA books, this seems to take our heroine somewhat by surprise. It's got some depth to it though.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a hard one for me to rate. For one, I thought it was a really good story, but at the same time there were things that were really disappointing. If you didn't already know, this is a Peter Pan retelling told through the eyes of Tinkerbell. It starts before Tinkerbell ever meets Peter and is more about the relationship that is formed between Tiger Lily and Peter. Trigger warnings for this book: physical abuse, rape, depression, suicide, and transphobia. These things don't encompass big parts of the story, but they are in there.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An interesting and inventive retelling of Peter Pan from Tinkerbell’s point of view, and with Tiger Lily as the main character. I really enjoyed this one for its unique twist on the original story and for the depth of Tiger Lily’s and Pan’s characters.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a beautiful retelling of the story of Peter Pan, mainly concentrating on the story behind Tiger Lily.
It is almost unrecognisable from the Disney Peter Pan we know and love, but that is exactly what makes this book sparkle. Told from the perspective of Tinker Bell, this book is magical.
The description of Neverland was rich in detail, and the story was suitably simple but layered and had a lot of interesting details. The magical elements of the story are retold in such a way that they are less fantastic, but relatively believable and you can almost believe that this could have happened somewhere.
It was a story that had a more realistic feel to it but still retained the magic and fantasy.
The ending was just brilliant, it really captured the essence of what often happens in the real world. But far from being depressing, such an ending was strangely uplifting and hopeful and did provide closure to the story, you feel satisfied after reading it.
I really want to read more books like this one! Brilliant escapism. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This had been on my TBR list for a very long time. I placed a hold on someone's audiobook and had forgotten all about it by the time it arrived.
Tinker Bell tells the true story of the relationship between Tiger Lily and Peter Pan and how it affected Tiger Lily's tribe. While there is still a lot of fantasy here I was impressed by how some familiar parts of the story were made more "believable". - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was amazing! Really love the author. If you have some great stories like this one, you can publish it on Novel Star, just submit your story to [email protected] or [email protected]
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to Tiger Lily, the girl with the crow feather in her hair. Adopted by TikTok, the village shaman, Tiger Lily got her name from the flower that grew over the place where she was found. Bullied by the villagers , Tiger Lily, now fifteen, doesn’t believe in love stories or happy endings. That changes when she meets Peter Pan in the woods of Neverland and falls under his spell.This starts out as a charming story narrated by Tinkerbell, who is herself in love with Peter. Her first loyalty is to Tiger Lily, and the reader gets to know the story of the Lost Boys, Wendy, and Captain Hook through Tink's observations. It's not all happy and we experience the much darker side of Neverland. The Lost Boys seem more like gang members, the pirates are vicious, especially Hook, who is desperate to find a cure for aging. The only way Smee can feel empathy is by killing and the mermaids will drown anyone they catch.Usually I find fairly tale retellings less interesting than the original. I'm the complete opposite in this case. Overall, this book was happy and sad, all at the same time. It's about what it feels like to fall in love, and what it means when you have to grow up. I thought it was hauntingly beautiful, and its impact will stay with me for a long time.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tiger Lily is the story behind Peter Pan and Tiger Lily, told from the perspective of Tinker Bell. We learn all about their friendship, including how they met and the romance between the two. We also get the personal story behind Tiger Lily, whose life was far from perfect, with struggles from an arranged marriage to an outcast adopted father. Of course when Wendy comes into the scene, the whole dynamic changes. Tiger Lily struggles to deal with the changes in her relationship with Peter and the Lost Boys while going through a stressful time at home. In the end, Tiger Lily and Peter Pan part ways for the better, and everyone gets their happily ever after. I really enjoyed getting a story devoted to Tiger Lily, and it was interesting to hear from Tinker Bell since we never know what she's thinking. Cute and fast read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A retelling of the story of Peter Pan, focusing on Tiger Lilly and from the perspective of Tinkerbell. This is a love triangle and an adventure and as the opening lines says, hardly a typical story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Oh, how to review this book! It was unexpected and poetic and heartbreaking and emotional and piercing and exquisite.This is the story of Tiger Lily as seen through Tinker Bell's eyes. Set before the events of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, it is a story of first love, of being true to yourself, of the reality of the world - good and bad. Those looking for the typical teen romance with lots of quivering and flip-flopping stomachs and make out scenes should look elsewhere. There is an innocence to the love story here that is sweet and sad.Ms. Anderson has a way with words. They are lyrical and poetic. They are descriptive in the most beautiful way. For example,How can I describe Peter's face, the pieces of him that stick to my heart? Peter sometimes looked aloof and distant; sometimes his face was open and soft as a bruise. Sometimes he looked completely at Tiger Lily, as if she were the point on which all the universe revolved, as if she were the biggest mystery of life, or as if she were a flame and he couldn't not look even though he was scared. And sometimes it would all disappear into carelessness, confidence, amusement, as if he didn't need anyone or anything on this earth to feel happy and alive.andI recognized Tiger Lily instantly; I had seen her before. She stood out like a combination of a roving panther and a girl. She stalked instead of walked. Her body still held the invincibility of a child, when at her age it should have been giving way to fragile, flexible curves.andTo love someone was not what she had expected. It was like falling from somewhere high up and breaking in half, and only one person having the secret to the puzzle of putting her back together.In my opinion, this is the mark of a truly great writer. Not only is the story compelling, but the words she chooses and they way she puts them together make you feel what the characters are feeling. You don't just sympathize with them, you empathize. The words are not chosen only to literally tell the story, or to make the author sound smart, they are chosen with care to captivate the reader and completely immerse them in the scene and characters.Peter and Tiger Lily have to be two of the loneliest characters. Their love for each other is so sweet but at the same time their doubt and inexperience is excruciating to read. I loved them both. The true star of this book, though, is Tinker Bell. As the narrator here we really see the truth of the story. We see loneliness and heartache and budding romance and injustice. She tells us at the beginning that good doesn't always win and that becomes evident as the story progresses. Not all endings are happy ones.I don't know what else to say except that I loved this book. I recommend it to everyone. I will be adding a hardcover copy of this one to my permanent favorites shelf in my home.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Due to copy and paste, formatting has been lost.It's the two of them, jumbled up and broken apart into confused pieces, and not really understanding, themselves, what they were doing.To be completely honest with y'all, I've been sitting here and staring at the computer for about ten minutes. I literally have no inkling of what I want to say at all.Tiger Lily was... I loved it. It took a bit of getting used to, because it was told from Tinker Bell's point of view, but it was about Tiger Lily. Like I said, it took some getting used to - but I really think that it was a unique and interesting way to go about it. I loved the writing, it was very descriptive and... I don't know. Flowing.I enjoyed the character of Tiger Lily - I didn't really get to connect with her, because of the point of view, but I feel like she was a good character. She was very brave, but I feel like her mind is a dark and sad place. But that's okay. She really was pretty dang complex, and I was intrigued by her.Undoubtedly, my absolute favorite part of Tiger Lily was the atmosphere. Neverland truly is a dark and dangerous place, with many villains that made it very interesting. It was so twisting and cruel; I mean who doesn't love that?The ending that this book lead straight to was kind of depressing, but only for a moment. In the end, what Tiger Lily got was so much more amazing. Peter and Tiger Lily's love story was good - but in the way that a first love story always is. It was sad, and I wanted them to be together, but it just wasn't meant to be. Like I said, Tiger Lily's ending was so much better than it would have been with Peter.It just fit. All in all, Tiger Lily really was a good read. I enjoyed Tiger Lily & the story of Neverland, and the atmosphere was amazing. But I just... don't know how to say what I want to say?
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another retelling of the story of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. I'm a sucker for revamps, retells, rewrites in general so when I found this book I just had to read it. It clearly states in the beginning "This is a love story [...] The boy and girl are far from innocent. Dear lives are lost. And good doesn't win." From this I was not expecting a happy mushy ever after ending. I was not shocked that it ended the way it did and after thinking about it (after I stopped crying from reading the letter), I was glad it ended the way it did.Tiger Lily has always been the odd girl out in her village. Everyone thinks she's cursed and can control the crows and make them do her bidding. One day when a ship comes in an Englander finds his way to their village but only Tiger Lily is brave enough to go and help the injured man. Unfortunately this brings so much more pain and suffering as the novel goes on. One day she also happens to stumble upon Peter Pan who ties her up but ultimately lets her go. That was just the beginning of their soon to be romance. The story is told through a mute Tinkerbell's eyes, which I think was what made me give it one more star. She gets to see things that a first narrator wouldn't have been able to witness. She sees the development of the village, the change in the villagers as the Englander "tames their ways", the budding romance between Peter and Tiger Lily, Captain Hook and Smee's revenge plot and some of the happenings with a few minor character villagers like Moon Eye (a pretty girl from the village) and Pine Sap (Tiger Lily's only other friend besides her father Tik Tok and Moon Eye). Like I said if it weren't for the charming narration given by Tinkerbell I would not have rated it so high. Personally Wendy was annoying (which I assume was on purpose since Tiger Lily was the "hero") and she suddenly came barging in and kind of hurt the story since she was so bland but ultimately it works in the end for at least Tiger Lily's character development.It's a story about first loves, accepting yourself, and a slight revenge. I would recommend it for sure.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Q: could a book be even more beautiful than the movie? A: YES, if the focus shifts from Wendy and Peter to Tiger Lily and Tinker Bell. I have always enjoyed tales retold and this ranks among my top three. What a wonderfully different vision of Neverland as a colonial outpost, and how I envied Tiger Lily and Peter's wild hearts. This is a gorgeous saga for YA and for dreamy adults alike. Just about perfect, really.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was an interesting read. It's been ages since I've seen the movie so my memory is rather fuzzy of the plot. I loved having Tinkerbell as the narrator. I did not remember liking her in the movie but the book made me like her. I can't say I'd read the book again but I think it's a good read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I remember since being a kid not liking Wendy very much, I preferred Tiger Lily, so when I heard of Jodi Lynn Anderson's Tiger Lily I knew I had to get a copy.
This is a retelling of Peter & Wendy, from Tinkerbell's point of view, which is perfect since she has the ability to sense people's thoughts and true feelings, and Tiger Lily is not really open about hers.
Tiger Lily is a lonely girl, a really lonely girl who is secluded from her own tribe because they believe she's cursed; she finds it hard to trust others, even the few that try to be her friends and her father. She's eager for adventure, which is one of the things that draws her to Peter Pan. He's different from everything she's been made believe, he's a boy, a boy as lonely as her.
Their romance was beautiful and heartbreaking, it was not childish or sweet, it was wild and sad. And the way it flows with the story is sublime.
Anderson wove an incredibly bitter-sweet tale, with such a diverse cast, from magical Tik Tok trapped in a man's body, to sweet Wendy Darling with no idea of the world. Each and everyone of them were enjoyable, and had a story which made them feel real.
It's really hard to put into words how inspiring this book was. Anderson's words are powerful. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I wanted to like this a lot more than I did, because I thought the idea was very interesting -- it's the Peter Pan story, but from Tiger Lily's point of view.For full disclosure, I don't like the original Peter Pan very much, so I was hoping that this would maybe be like a Wicked thing, in that I also don't care for The Wizard of Oz but I bought into Wicked hook, line and sinker. As a quick refresher, in Peter Pan Tiger Lily is the Native American-ish Princess in Neverland, and it's vaguely implied that she's jealous of Wendy because she wants/wanted/had? Peter's affections prior to the Darlings' arrival on the scene. In this YA novel, we have Tiger Lily who is not quite a princess but definitely tribal, first meeting Peter Pan and then falling for him.I think my essential problem with this book is that it attempts to do a lot of things at the same time, and some of them are quite good but others just feel labored. It does a neat of job of building a convincing Neverland, one that could maybe in theory interact with England with just enough magic to keep it in the realm of fantasy. One of my issues with Peter Pan is what a bold reminder it is of imperialism, and I think the author shares that because I liked how she rounded this out a little more with the visiting English ships. Then there's the matching up with the source material - this has to be one of the most demanding aspects of writing a book like this, and in this case, sometimes it worked and sometimes it felt really strained. It's narrated by Tinker Bell, and it gives her a mostly omniscient POV, due to her fairy abilities, but eh, for me this also served to insert a layer of distance. It was a lot of reporting. The book also included issues, and while I'm not against a book that tackles issues, in this case, it felt wedged in, like "now is the time on Sprockets when we talk about gender expression!" or "now is the time on Sprockets when we talk about standards of beauty!"Now we come to the actual point of the book (I think), the relationship between Tiger Lily and Peter Pan, which reads like a "Bad Boys and the Smart Girls Who Love Them" story. I just don't know. I wanted more here. It took me a long time to warm up to them as characters (due to the Tinker Bell narration). It's one of those books where a lot of problems would be cleared up if people SAID THINGS, and not even complex things, the baseline could be very simple descriptive things. Maybe I'm old, but I'm finding it more and more tiresome to read books with a lot of this. Peter Pan comes across as slightly better than a sociopath (one of my chief problems with original Peter Pan material), which isn't saying much, because he's still one of those guys who doesn't behave well within a relationship and then has the nerve to be all "oh gosh, that's just how I am!" and apologetic in a jolly way about it (is there anything worse than a jolly apology?). Maybe that is a silly criticism to make, because "Peter Pan" is now widely understood as a description of guys like that. What I was hoping for, with a book like this, is that an author could figure out a way to show Peter Pan being NOT so much of a immature jerk in a way that still fits the events of the story. Isn't that the challenge? I should add that Tiger Lily doesn't act that great, either. It was hard to like her, and I suspect that the author intended the reader to find her challenging to like ... but the dislike I'm talking about is not related to liking her within the story, but rather, disliking the fact that she wasn't coming through as a real person to me. I didn't like many of the choices the author made with the love story, so the resolution on that wasn't satisfying to me, but I was already off-track with it about five steps back. This review sounds like I was crabby the entire time I read it, but it was the kind of crabbiness that comes when a book is almost meeting your expectations but not quite.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5This book was actually painful for me to read. I am far too much of a Peter Pan/Neverland/Tinkerbell fanatic to appreciate what the author did with this story. I was excited to read a book that expanded on the Indian Chief's little daughter, Tiger Lily, and her feelings towards Peter Pan. Well, she wasn't the Indian Chief's daughter, Tinkerbell had never even met Peter before she started narrating this story, Peter was actually seriously in love with Tiger Lily, people actually aged on Neverland, Smee was a murderous sociopath, and an Englander who crashed onto the island started preaching to the tribe and converting them into Christians - just to name a few things I hated about this story. These are seriously egregious to the sanctity of all things Peter Pan (who doesn't even fly). From the first pages, I imagined the author just kind of remembered something about the cartoon she saw once when she was a kid and thought she'd write a story about one of the minor characters. I was expecting another companion to the "Peter Pan" universe (ie. the "Peter and the Starcatchers" series), but this was more like "Pocahontas" meets "Desperate Housewives." If you are familiar with the characters but aren't a huge fan like me, you will probably like it because a lot of other readers had good things to say, and it was a good concept, but I just can't get past the way she butchered these characters and that world that I love.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This wasn't your normal "retelling" and it did take me a bit to get into the book and stay interested. It was good though, I liked hearing things from Tink's perspective and the Tiger Lily side of the Peter Pan story is one that hasn't been explored before. All in all the story made me sad though, and it's not that I am one who HAS to have a happy ending, but I kept hoping for one in this case. It's not that I was so disappointed that I didn't like the book, but I do think I'd have liked it better if it had ended a bit more positively.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Recommended This book is a re-telling of Peter Pan. Tiger Lily is a in a tribe that avoids pirates and Peter Pan’s Lost Boys. Tiger Lily is infatuated with Peter, but that complicates things at home for her. Tiger Lily is supposed to marry someone that her dad has chosen for her. The story is set before Wendy arrives in Neverland and the narrator is Tinker Bell.The writing is well done and I think a lot of Peter Pan and Tinker Bell fans will want to read this book. It has been very popular since it’s release and most of the reviews are favorable. It was one of SLJ’s “Best Books of 2012”. The story is dark and may not have the ending most readers will hope for. A main theme in this book to me is the idea of colonialism. It is not stated as such, but it has outsiders coming into a tribe and forcing their new ways on the old ways.This is a good book that can be used as an example of a re-telling of a traditional fairy tale. It can be used in a literature class to look at creative naming of characters. It is a good example of a story told from a different perspective. It would make for a good book for literature circles or book clubs. I think it is a must have for a school or public library. This book was a topic on LM_NET for a while due to the depiction of native peoples. But the words Native American or Indian do not show up in any text. The reader may infer that through the use of words like “warrior”, “tribes” and “shaman.” Some students will enjoy the emotional roller coaster that this story will take them on. Overall, it's not a personal favorite...but it's well done.
Book preview
Tiger Lily - Jodi Lynn Anderson
PROLOGUE
She stands on the cliffs, near the old crumbling stone house.
There’s nothing left in the house but an upturned table, a ladle, and a clay bowl. She stands for more than an hour, goose-bumped and shivering. At these times, she won’t confide in me. She runs her hands over her body, as if checking that it’s still there, her heart pulsing and beating. The limbs are smooth and strong, thin and sinewy, her hair long and black and messy and gleaming despite her age. You wouldn’t know it to look at her, that she’s lived long enough to look for what’s across the water. Eighty years later, and she is still fifteen.
These days, there is no new world. The maps have long since settled and stayed put. People know the shapes of Africa, Asia, and South America. And they know which beasts were mythical and which weren’t. Manatees are real, mermaids aren’t. Rhinoceroses exist and sea monsters don’t. There are no more sea serpents guarding deadly whirlpools. There are pirates, yes, but there is nothing romantic about them. The rest is all stories, and stories have been put in their place.
Now, the outsiders keep their eyes on their own shores, and we keep our eyes on ours. Too far off route, we’ve been overlooked, and most of us don’t think about the world outside. Only she and I are different. Every month or so she comes here and stares toward the ocean, and all the village children whisper about her, even her own. It has become such a ritual.
And when she surfaces from her dream, she calls me by my old name, though no one uses it anymore. And she turns to me, her eyelashes fluttering in the glare that surrounds me, and whispers to me in one short syllable.
Tink.
ONE
Let me tell you something straight off. This is a love story, but not like any you’ve heard. The boy and the girl are far from innocent. Dear lives are lost. And good doesn’t win. In some places, there is something ultimately good about endings. In Neverland, that is not the case.
To understand what it’s like to be a faerie, tall as a walnut and genetically gifted with wings—who happened to witness such a series of events—you must first understand that all faeries are mute. Somewhere in our evolution, on our long crooked journey from amoeba to dragonfly to faerie, nature must have decided language wasn’t necessary for us to survive. It’s good in some ways, not to have a language. It makes you see things. You turn your attention, not to babbling about yourself, broadcasting each and every thought to everyone within earshot—as people often do—but to observing. That’s how faeries became so empathic. We’re so attuned to the beating of a heart, the varied thrum of a pulse, the zaps of the synapses of a brain, that we are almost inside others’ minds. Most faeries tune this out by only spending time with other faeries. They make settlements in tree stumps and barely venture out except to hunt mosquitoes. I get bored by that. I like to fly and keep an eye on things. That was how I saw it, from the beginning. Some would like to call it being nosy. That’s what my mother would say, at least.
That morning, I was on my way to see about some locusts. They’d invaded and eaten all the good parts of a faerie settlement near the river, and I had never seen a locust before. I was flying along on a curiosity mission when I passed the girls in a manioc field.
They were out cultivating the tubers—in the tribe, a woman’s job. All in their early teens: some of the girls were awkwardly growing but still thoroughly in their skin, with gangly limbs that expressed their most passing thoughts, while others were curvy, and carrying those curves like new tools they were learning. I recognized Tiger Lily instantly; I had seen her before. She stood out like a combination of a roving panther and a girl. She stalked instead of walked. Her body still held the invincibility of a child, when at her age it should have been giving way to fragile, flexible curves.
These were Sky Eaters, a tribe whose lives were always turned toward the river. They fished, and grew manioc in the clearing along its shore. A Sky Eater wandering far into the thick, unnavigable forest was like a faerie wandering into a hawk’s hunting territory. It happened only rarely. So when they heard the crashing through the trees, most of the girls screamed. Tiger Lily reached for her hatchet.
Stone came through first, splitting through the branches. The other boys rallied behind him. And Pine Sap, last and weakest of them all, brought up the rear. They were all breathless, shirtless, a muscular and well-organized group with weedy Pine Sap trailing at the back.
Stone gestured for the girls to come with them. You’ll never believe it.
The girls followed the boys through the forest, and I grabbed a tassel of Tiger Lily’s tunic because I, too, was curious, and she ran faster than I wanted to fly. And then we cleared the last of the trees leading to the cliffs, and the way to the sea was open, and I heard a noise escape Tiger Lily’s lips, a little cry, and heard it on the other girls’ lips too as they arrived behind her. There upon the water was a large ship, a skeleton against the sky, collapsed and flailing into the rocks close to shore, broken apart and drowning. The scene was all deep blues and grays and whites and the wild waves lifting it all like deep gasping breaths.
Looking closer, I could see little pink people—tiny, falling and clinging. I knew right away they must be Englanders, a people we knew of from across the ocean.
They’re dying,
one of the girls breathed—a reedy thing I knew to be named Moon Eye—gesturing with her thin arms.
Between the ship’s decks, the rocks soared. Pieces of it raced into the sea and disappeared. Little people dropped from it in droves.
Pine Sap elbowed Tiger Lily’s arm; he pointed, his finger snaking to trace a line farther in. One little rowboat moved toward shore like a water bug, but we could see that it was caught in the breakers.
It had only one occupant—a fragile figure, a lone man. He was making for the shore with all his might and getting nowhere. As we looked on, the waves buffeted him, until finally he was knocked from the boat, though he somehow managed to cling to its bow. He looked to be as good as dead. But seconds later, he hurled himself back on board.
The tiny boat looked fit to capsize, was half full of water already, and the man was not an adept seaman, constantly turning the boat broadwise when it should have been pointed vertically against the waves. Still, he rowed, and rowed, and despite everything, and to our utter surprise, the boat suddenly lurched its way out of the breakers and into the calm waters by the beach. He collapsed down and forward for a moment, as if he might be dead, and then began to row, calmly, toward the shore. Several people in our group let out their breaths. I did too, though no one would have heard me.
To me it seemed like he was trading one deadly place for another, and that drifting back out to sea was no less dangerous than walking into the island without knowing its dangers. The forest would eat him alive, even his bones.
The young people of the tribe were all looking at each other with a combination of exhilaration and fear, except for Tiger Lily, stony and unreadable, her eyes on the man below. Pine Sap grabbed her hand and pulled her back from the cliff’s edge; she had been standing so close the wind might have blown her over.
They’ll be deciding what to do about him,
Stone said.
Because all Neverlanders knew what danger Englanders brought with them.
The children raced home to see what the village council would do. I stayed and watched the ship floundering in the waves for a while longer, then flew to catch up.
That was the beginning, or at least the beginning of the beginning, of the changes that were coming for Tiger Lily: the arrival of one little man on one little lifeboat. By that day, I had known of Tiger Lily for years. I also knew a little of her history: that Tik Tok, the shaman, had found her while he was out gathering wild lettuce for medicine, under a flower—either abandoned there or hidden from some peril by someone who didn’t survive to come back for her. He’d named her Tiger Lily, after the flower she was under, bundled her into his arms, and taken her home. When she’d grown old enough to seem like a real girl, he’d built her a house next to his down the path that led to the woods and moved her into it. He didn’t want her borrowing his dresses.
Tik Tok lived in a clay house he’d built himself—the most intricate in the village. It was my favorite home to sleep in when I was passing through, because it had the best nooks, and a faerie always likes to sleep in tight places for fear of predators. He’d seen the same constructions done in one of the other tribes on the island—the Bog Dwellers, who lived in the mud bogs among the old bones of prehistoric animals—and he’d dragged the whole rib cage of a beast home piece by piece to make the frame. With a craftsmanship possessed by no one else in any village, he’d fashioned shelves and windows, to create a dwelling that put the rest of the tribe’s simple houses to shame.
Now he was sitting by a warm fire inside, as the sun was setting and the night was growing cool, as it often did at the end of the dry season. He wore a long dress of raspberry-dyed leather—his favorite—and his hair braided down his back, a leather thong tied around his head with a peacock feather in back. His posture was straight and graceful as any woman’s. His eyes were closed in concentration, and his lips moved in a conversation with the invisible gods that, as shaman, he visited in trances. Out of breath, Tiger Lily moved into the room soundlessly and hovered, waiting for him to finish.
In a village where everything was uniform and tidy, Tik Tok’s house was like a treasure trove. The firelight cast shadows on the curved walls where he kept his curious collection of belongings: tiny bird skulls, feathers, a few stones that looked like any other stones but which he treasured, and a beloved collection of exotic items that had washed ashore over the years, which he had found scouring Neverland’s shores. A book, the pages stuck together, the ink blurred. A tarnished metal cup. And, most beloved of all, a box that told time—still ticking away, its mechanism having somehow survived a shipwreck or a long journey across the sea from the continent. The Englanders divided the endlessness of the world into seconds and minutes and hours, and Tik Tok thought this was wonderful.
Tiger Lily moved across the room quietly, examining the clock, the little metal bit he used to wind it, and bending her ear to the loud, steady ticktock, which Tik Tok had renamed himself after in a solemn ceremony attended by the whole village.
Now she sensed a movement, and turned to see that he was observing her.
Well, my little beast, I hear we have a visitor,
he said, looking her up and down with an amused smile. She always managed to look like a wild beast, mud-stained and chaotic. Her hair was constantly escaping her braid to cling to her face, stuck to her, covered in dirt.
Will we help him?
she asked.
Tik Tok shook his head. I don’t know.
Tiger Lily waited for him to say more, trying her best to remain in respectful silence.
Tik Tok smeared away some of the charcoal he used to line his eyes. Have you seen my pipe?
he asked.
He stood and moved about the house, searching. He had carved it over two weeks of long intricate work, but it was the fifth one he’d made. He was always losing things. Finally he found it buried under his covers.
He turned his attention to her question, and sighed. Englanders had come to Neverland before. They’d brought their language with them and given it out as a gift to the Bog Dwellers, who had given it to the other tribes in turn over the years. But they’d also brought a strange discomfort to the wild, and they’d been loud and careless in the forest, and gotten themselves murdered by pirates, who hated their fellow Englanders more than anything else on earth and liked to kill them on sight. They’d brought fevers and crippling flus too. But it wasn’t any of this that the Sky Eaters feared.
The Englanders had the aging disease. As time went on they turned gray, and shrank, and, inexplicably, they died. It wasn’t that Neverlanders didn’t know anything about death, but not as a slow giving in, and certainly not an inevitability. This, more than the beasts of their own island, or the brutal pirate inhabitants of the far west shore, was what crept into their dreams at night and chased them through nightmares.
You never could tell when someone would stop growing old in Neverland. For Tik Tok, it had been after wrinkles had walked long deep tracks across his face, but for many people, it was much younger. Some people said it occurred when the most important thing that would ever happen to you triggered something inside that stopped you from moving forward, but Tik Tok thought that was superstition. All anyone knew was that you came to an age and you stayed there, until one day some accident or battle with the dangers of the island claimed you. Therefore sometimes daughters grew older than mothers, and grandchildren became older than grandparents, and age was just a trait, like the color of your hair, or the amount of freckles on your skin.
It was because of the aging disease, Tiger Lily knew, that the Sky Eaters wouldn’t want to help the Englander. They didn’t want to catch what he had.
But something about the tiny lone figure, floating from one certain death into another, tugged at her—I could hear it. (As a faerie, you can hear when something tugs at someone. It’s much like the sound of a low, deep note on a violin string.)
He won’t survive without our help,
Tiger Lily said. We’re supposed to be brave, aren’t we?
The wrinkles in Tik Tok’s face moved in response. The story they told was familiar to her.
I’m not a stranger to your love of lost causes, dear one. But you have to be careful who you meet,
he said, stoking a pipe thoughtfully. You can’t unmeet them.
He took a long drag of his pipe. Being near Tik Tok always gave one the feeling that everything in the world was exactly in the place it ought to be, and that rushing through anything would be an insult and a waste. And you should be thinking of other things. You’re getting too old to run wild like you do. Clean yourself up. Brush your hair. Try to look like a girl.
I will, if you try to look like a man.
He smiled wryly, because they both knew how impossible that was; he didn’t have it in him. Tik Tok was as womanly as a man could ever be, and everyone just accepted it, like they accepted the color of the sky, and the fact that night followed the daytime. Grudgingly, he gave Tiger Lily a puff of his pipe. They sat and watched the colors outside the window. From my perch on a shelf, I inhaled the unfurling wisps as they dissipated: the tobacco made the colors thick, the smells richer. Outside, visible through the window, everyone was dispersing from the fire. The girls were walking ahead and the boys were running to catch up. There was, as always, a dance going on between them, one that I’d never seen Tiger Lily take part in.
She lay on her back and pushed her feet against the wall, wiped a layer of sweat from her neck though the air was chilly. She tapped her feet at the wall in a troubled rhythm.
Tik Tok gave her a knowing look. You’re restless. Everything is too small for you, including your own body. That’s what it’s like to be fifteen. I remember.
There was a noise in the doorway and they both glanced up to see Pine Sap, pale, with Moon Eye behind him looking pensive and sorry, the way she often did.
They’ve decided to let the Englander die,
he said.
I was asleep on a leaf by the main fire when I heard her come out of her hut.
She went to the river to wash, after everyone else had gone to bed. Crocs sometimes made their way this far inland, but I knew she wasn’t as scared of them as some of the others, and that she liked to swim alone, after dark. Following her back to her house, I saw there was one candle burning among the huts. Pine Sap’s. He was probably up working on a project, or thinking his deep thoughts. I knew, from nights I’d slept in the village, that he was an insomniac.
When Tiger Lily emerged again from her house and into the square, she’d gathered up a bagful of food.
She set out before the sun came up, her arrows strapped to her back.
I watched her go, intrigued, but also sleepy, comfortable and content. I fell back to sleep before I even thought of following her.
TWO
Before he ran out on me and my mother for a twinkly-eyed nymph named Belladonna, my father told me a few things. He said rotten logs were the best places for mosquitoes. He told me humans weren’t to be trusted. And he warned me to stay clear of Peter Pan.
It was when he was tracing for me which parts of the island were forbidden territory, and which weren’t. He had called him Pan first. He signaled to me, in a form of language only faeries know: He can fly. He has horns. He eats men. And he will kill you if he sees you.
I learned more from the other faeries after that. My childhood friend Mirabella and I used to think about it before bed. We had never seen the lost boys; we didn’t know quite what they were—ghosts or demons or living men. They were the only creatures in the forest we couldn’t find to spy on, but they left evidence of themselves: carcasses of beasts and prey in their wake, and sometimes a pirate skull dangling from a tree. They left their tracks everywhere and sometimes left muddy handprints and the occasional curious artifact—like a papier-mâché mask or a tiny wooden sailing ship—to remind us of their presence. Sometimes the wind carried their yells and hoots to us while we lay in our cozy nooks, deep inside rotting hollow logs. They seemed to know the forest better than we did, and we knew the forest like we knew our own wings. These boys were famous for their violence; they were known to eat wild animals raw with their bared teeth, and to steal girls who wandered alone. Imagining what happened to these human girls once they were stolen made me shudder. My father had told me never to go near their territory. Faeries and tribes alike called that part of the forest Forbidden.
But after my father left, I had the irresistible urge to disobey every rule he’d ever given me. I’d fly all over the area I was supposed to avoid, looking for a thrilling glimpse of the boys, and when I got tired or hungry, I’d make a stop at the Sky Eaters’ village nearby, to eat the fleas that can always be found near the animals people keep.
Humans have been known to kill faeries and use us as festive, glowing decorations for certain rituals. But the Sky Eaters and a few other tribes considered the practice barbaric. I rarely felt nervous at all as I sat and ate among them, and it was always fun to observe them. They were colorful, for one thing. The women grew their hair long and fixed it elaborately, and the men—Tik Tok the shaman being the exception—cut theirs short. They had a great tradition of artistry, and made themselves beautiful clothes. They tried to listen to the gods in the trees and the clouds and the water, though they could never hear clearly exactly what they were saying.
It was during one of these visits that I first saw Tiger Lily.
The children were teasing her. That, in itself, wasn’t what captured