 Hi everyone, my name is Steph, this is Little Bookish Teacher, and today I'm here to review Neverlanders by Tom Taylor. As I mentioned last week, Neverlanders won the older readers category for the Children's Book Council Awards for 2023. It is the very first time that a graphic novel has won this category, and so I was really excited to go and read it because I didn't actually attempt to read through the older readers category, which is the young adult category, just because it doesn't line up with the work that I'm doing within my school, so it didn't make sense to do it then. But when I heard that it won, I was really interested in picking it up. So this graphic novel is a Peter Pan inspired story, and it's kind of a post-Peter Pan reimagining slash retelling story in that it sort of takes place after what we would consider a traditional Peter Pan story. It is post-pan, and we have a group of runaways led by Bee who live together in our world. They have all experienced some kind of trauma in their background that has led to them living on the streets, whether it be parental abandonment, whether it is kids who have experienced school shootings and are dealing with the trauma of that, and they have banded together, created this found family. They look after each other, they protect each other, and at the very start of the book they meet Paco, who is new, and they invite him into their little group and offer to look after him. If he is willing to be part of their family and look after them too. But as it turns out, Paco is originally from Neverland, and he is one of the Lost Boys. And he ends up dragging all of them to Neverland, and this is done without their consent, and so when they get there they're frustrated and upset and angry and also thrust into the middle of a war between what remains of Neverland and the humans who can't access Neverland because they have grown up and who want to obtain Neverland and the power that lives there. Paco is the last surviving member of the Lost Boys. Pan is gone, and they have been at war for ages, and he needs help. They get there, and most of them get these amazing abilities. The characters are really quirky and fun. I absolutely love them. They had great personalities. Together they are trying to stop the villains from taking the heart of Neverland. It was really fun. I loved the way that it played with traditional characters from the Peter Pan narrative, but also added in new characters. It's very modernized in that sense. I know a lot of teachers don't necessarily enjoy graphic novels, and I think that's totally fine. I happen to absolutely love them, and I think that if something is going to get a child to read, 100% let them read it. If it means they're reading graphic novels, they're reading graphic novels. They're still reading, and there is an incredible level of knowledge that you have to bring to reading a graphic novel in order to be able to get the most out of it. It's not just about reading the words, and it's not just about looking at the pictures. You really have to unpack both, because so much happens in each individual panel to move the story along, and it's very different to reading a narrative where everything is literally written out for you. So I think there is an incredible power in them as a teacher. This would be a fantastic way to actually compare the traditional Peter Pan narrative with this story. Why did this author choose to take the story in this direction? I think there is a lot of really great conversations to be had in that space. I have read Peter Pan many times, and I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of the original story, but I absolutely love retellings and re-imaginings of it, because I think it is one of those stories where there is so much that can be done with it, and so much that can be explored, and this has definitely done that. I don't know if we're going to get more stories with these characters at any point in time. If we did, I would 100% read them. I think the art style in here is great, it's fun, it's vibrant, it's very reminiscent of traditional comic book superhero stories, but with a very, as I said, bright color palette, so it pops off the page. I think it's very easily accessible for young adult readers, and I just had a great time with it. So I will leave a link down below if you are interested in checking it out. It is action-packed, it is gritty, but it is full of heart and wonderful characters, and I just had the best time reading it. In the comments I'd love to know if you have read this book or if you're planning on picking it up. Alternatively, if you have a favorite Young Adult graphic novel, feel free to share that recommendation down below. I'm always on the lookout for graphic novels to read, and if you just want to let me know that you're here but you don't want to leave a comment, feel free to leave a star emoji down below. I hope that wherever you're on the world, you're staying safe and healthy, and I will see you in my next video. Bye everyone.