neverland

treeseed Neverland (also called Never-Never-Land, Never Land and other variations) is the fictional island and dream world featured in the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by Scottish writer J. M. Barrie, his subsequent novel Peter and Wendy, and later works by others. While sojourning in Neverland, people may cease to age; therefore, Neverland is often seen as a metaphor for eternal childhood (and childishness), immortality, and escapism. In the earliest drafts of Barrie's play, the island was called Peter's Never Never Never Land. When the play was first performed in 1904, the island was referred to as the Never Never Land. In the 1923 published version, it was shortened to the Never Land. In the 1911 novel, it was spelled as one word: the Neverland.

Peter led Wendy Darling and her brothers to Neverland by flying "second to the right, and straight on till morning," though it is stated in the novel that Peter made up these directions on the spot to impress Wendy. In the 1953 Disney film, Peter Pan, the word "star" is added to the directions Peter speaks, "second star to the right, and straight on till morning."

The novel explains that Neverlands are found in the minds of children, and although they are "always more or less an island", and they have a family resemblance, they are not the same from one child to the next. For example, John Darling's "had a lagoon with flamingos flying over it" while his little brother Michael's "had a flamingo with lagoons flying over it".

_Wikipedia Feb 10, 2008