-The Plays of J. M. Barrie

The character of Peter Pan first appeared in J.M Barrie’s 1902 novel The Little White Bird, in which he was a lost child adventuring in Kensington Garden. Barrie then adapted the story of Peter Pan for the stage in the 1904 play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. It is in this play that the imaginary island of Never-Never Land is first described. This world, accessible only to male children through dream or by being lost in Kensington Garden, is inhabited by several groups including the Lost Boys, the pirates of Captain Hook, fairies, and the racist caricatures of Native Americans known as the Picanniny tribe. There are also coral caves under the waters around the island, in which mermaids live.