Book Bearings
Cover of The little white bird, or, Adventures in Kensington gardens by J. M. Barrie

The little white bird, or, Adventures in Kensington gardens

  • 286 pages · about 5 hours
  • First published 1902
  • 172 editions
  • Free to read

Bookshop.org links may earn us a commission. It supports independent bookstores and costs you nothing.

1 About this book

The Little White Bird is a novel by the Scottish writer J. M. Barrie, ranging in tone from fantasy and whimsy to social comedy with dark, aggressive undertones. It was published in November 1902 by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and Scribner's in the US. Scribner's also published it serially in the monthly Scribner's Magazine from August to November.

The book attained prominence and longevity thanks to several chapters written in a softer tone than the rest, which introduced the character and mythology of Peter Pan. In 1906, those chapters were published separately as a children's book, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.

The Peter Pan story began as one chapter and grew to an "elaborate book-within-a-book" of more than one hundred pages during the four years Barrie worked on The Little White Bird. The complete book has also been published under the title The Little White Bird, or Adventures in Kensington Gardens.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Good for readers who want: a classic, fantasy, fairies, and a book they can read free online.

  • Classics
  • Kindness
  • Fantasy
  • Children
  • Conduct of life
  • Soldiers
  • Parent and child
  • Fairies

2 Read it free, right here

A free scan from the Internet Archive opens right here on the page, with no sign-up.

Read it on the Internet Archive

3 About J. M. Barrie

1860–1937

Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet (; 9 May 1860 – 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several successful novels and plays.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

4 More by J. M. Barrie

5 Similar books

Find a book that fits your moment