What Parents Should Know
Parents should know that this is a book about the making of
a classic literary villain, so he behaves badly all the time --
but because he's the hero of the story, and meant to be
sympathetic, his behavior becomes appealing. There's also a
level of brutality here that can be quite disturbing: Human
carcasses on a plague ship, whipping and beating of boys,
poisonous spider bites, swordplay and fighting, a brutal game
with lots of injuries, slaves are mistreated and tormented,
James cuts the word Neverland into his arm, and he kills a
sailor with a hook. This also isn't a book for reluctant
readers: overflowing with British, specifically Etonian, slang,
Latin names, and old-fashioned heroic repartee, it will be
heavy going for some, who may need help to decipher it.
Families who read this book could discuss perpective. Capt. Hook is traditionally a villian, but he's the hero of this story. Does James come across as sympathetic -- or are his actions only justified in his own mind? How would you retell the story from a different point of view? Also, this book has many clever allusions to Peter Pan and to J. M. Barrie, his life, and other works. Kids who like this story may want to explore a biography of Barrie, read Peter Pan , or check out one of the prequels (listed in the related book section).
Common Sense Media Review
J. V. Hart, screenwriter of the movie
Hook,
uses as a springboard an obscure short story by J. M. Barrie
(later turned into a speech called "Hook at Eton"), combining
it with hints laced throughout Peter Pan to create a thrilling
story that fleshes out the evil pirate captain's early
life.
Barrie always saw Hook as an intriguing, tragic figure, and a reflection of himself, and Hart has outdone himself in creating a fascinating hero / villain who is as magnetic to the reader as he is to his schoolmates.
Hart's dark and violent conception of Hook is truer to Barrie's original vision than it is to the humorously foppish popinjay caricature Americans have come to know, thanks to Disney and Cyril Ritchard. In the original 1904 stage play, Hook was so terrifying that children often had to be carried out of the theater screaming. It takes more to shock the worldly kids of today, brought up on violent movies and video games. But no one can accuse Hart of not trying. And sensitive kids may still need a guiding hook, er, hand.
From the Book:
Darling so dizzied himself with his plans to end James
Matthew, O.S.B., he did not see the
Lasiodora descending from the shadows of his ceiling.
As he conjured visions of himself running James through again
and again, the eight-legged nightmare landed on Darling's
pillow and went straight for his exposed neck. There the spider
affixed herself and sank her black fangs into his skin,
repeatedly shooting venom straight into Darling's spinal cord.
Before Darling collapsed and began to swell like a
soufflé, he managed to slam Electra against the wall and
was about to crush her eight legs to the floor with the Holy
Bible always on his bedstand, when the poison invaded his gray
matter and froze him stiff as a cricket bat.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
