Tiger Lily

Starred review from May 14, 2012
Much has been written about Peter Pan, but Tiger Lily, the girl he spurned in Neverland, has remained more of a mystery. In this evocative tale of unrequited love, Anderson (Peaches) gives Tiger Lily new psychological depth. Told from the perspective of Tinker Bell, the novel explores how Tiger Lily meets and falls in love with Peter, despite being betrothed to another villager, a man Tiger Lily despises. Tiger Lily and Peter’s complicated inner conflicts emerge as they sort out their feelings about freedom, power, loyalty, and responsibility. When a girl from England arrives, Tiger Lily feels the flame of jealousy for the first time, and the results could be deadly. The mythology of Neverland is eloquently woven into the story, and characters are reborn in fascinating ways—Hook is an alcoholic, Smee a serial killer, and Tiger Lily’s adoptive father a “two-spirit” shaman, “born to be two genders.” Readers will find it hard to resist being drawn into Tiger Lily’s world, where dangers and emotions are painted several shades darker than in J.M. Barrie’s classic fantasy. Ages 14–up. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio.

July 1, 2012

Gr 8-11-Tiger Lily is the adopted daughter of Tik Tok, shaman of the Sky Eater tribe of Neverland. As such, she should be a revered member of her community. Instead she is teased and harassed by other children-until one of her tormentors mysteriously dies. After that Tiger Lily is still an outsider, still looked down on, but she is also feared. She grows up wild and alone, running through Neverland's forests, becoming a skilled hunter and tracker. Her only companions are other village misfits, Pine Sap and Moon Eye, and a tiny faerie. Then one day she goes against her village's orders and saves an Englander shipwrecked on Neverland's shores. How was she to know her good deed would lead to heartache, sorrow, and the greatest betrayal she would ever face? Neverland is a dark place in this faerie-narrated tale of Peter Pan's first love. Teens familiar only with Disney's version of the story may find this novel perplexing, but its many layers create a place of dangerous wonder. Tiger Lily has been reinvented with a complex backstory, giving her a credible source of deep strength and dark emotion. Believable secondary characters have also been carefully crafted and developed, and mature themes run throughout, adding realism and edginess to this fantasy. Anderson has done for Peter Pan what Frank Beddor's The Looking Glass Wars (Dial, 2006) did for Alice in Wonderland, and older teens will appreciate her addition to the Neverland mythology.-Heather E. Miller, Homewood Public Library, AL

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2012
It's no paradise--white-sand beaches and spectacular sunsets come with mud, mosquitoes and croc-infested swamps--but guided by fragile, insect-size faerie Tink, readers are drawn into this richly re-imagined Neverland anyway. Tink is obsessed with Tiger Lily, whose tribe avoids pirates and Peter Pan's lost boys, believed to carry the aging disease. (Neverlanders stop aging when some life-defining event occurs.) Adopted daughter of shaman Tik Tok, Tiger Lily is proud and competitive, kept at a wary distance by her peers except for gentle Pine Sap, whose unconditional love she appreciates but doesn't return. Athletic Tiger Lily, nonathletic Pine Sap and Tik Tok, whose identity doesn't match his gender, share a bond that's shaken after Tiger Lily rescues an English shipwreck survivor, then falls in love with Peter, following him into an emotional wilderness as intoxicating and dangerous as Neverland itself. Equally strong passions rule psychotic Smee, alcoholic Hook and, especially, Peter, with his need to be best--from winning games to protecting the lost boys. He's irresistible; even mermaids, with their long hair and sharp teeth, aren't immune. Tink's love and helplessness (faeries read thoughts but cannot speak) become a source of tension and metaphor in this post-colonial fable that covers a lot of ground: wilderness and civilization, gender and power, time and change. Working with the darker threads of Barrie's bittersweet classic, Anderson weaves an enchanting tale. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

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April 15, 2012
Grades 8-11 In expressive, graceful language, Anderson tells the story of the fierce Tiger Lily and her thorny romance with the legendary Peter Pan. In remote Neverland, Tiger Lily has grown up with the Sky Eaters after being taken in by the shaman Tik Tok. At 15, already snubbed for her wild independence and nonwomanly hunting and fighting, Tiger Lily irrevocably changes her village when she rescues a shipwrecked Englander. Motivated by compassion, she fails to realize how his religious fervor poisons her tribe until it is too late. Her rescue captures Peter Pan's interest, and she is drawn to his strange mix of boyish enthusiasm, casual barbarity, and guarded loneliness. When Wendy Darling arrives on another English ship, Tiger Lily must decide whether to fight for her love or let him go. Narrated by Tinkerbell, whose empathy allows her to see into others' experiences, this wistful retelling has strong elements of tragedy, infused with regret, loneliness, and lost love, but its sensitive, passionate portrayal of familiar characters, here more damaged than we knew them, is captivating. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Pair the best-selling author of the Peaches series with a twisted-fairy-tale concept and you have a book that should live up to its vigorous marketing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)