A sprinkle of fairy dust, and the Rec Center transformed into Neverland!
The Neverland Handbook materialized when my husband, digital painter NY12 proposed that I teach J. M. Barrie’s 1911 novel Peter and Wendy for Muse Squad’s second 10-week creative writing course. I read the book to my first-grader, Rayne, and he helped me pick out the scenes to share for the program. His little brother, Clark, at only three years old, was the model for Peter Pan in the digital painting A Lost Boy.
Muse Squad is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring kids and teens and getting them to think differently about writing.
Our first ever “Neverland” course launched from Ridgefield Parks and Recreation in January 2024. A pair of imaginative twins returned from our fall Wonderland class and joined us again in Neverland. Our three students, Peyton Appel, Charlotte Mayette and Emily Mayette, all had their ninth birthday during the program. They had such a special bond and we had so much fun together.
Em wrote one of her pieces on the back of the blackboard with liquid chalk. On the day of the Final Reading she arrived to class with an idea for a new story. She was completely focused on her writing while the rest of us rehearsed. Then she was brave enough to share it. She had conceptualized a mystery centered upon a Queen’s missing crown and she had mapped it out to the very last line.
Charlotte wrote many fact and fiction pieces this session about her family, pets, and she even experimented with horror. Half-way through the program she asked if we could turn the next class upside-down and begin with a free write. This was when she was still writing under her pen name Scarlett. Thus she is credited in the Neverland Handbook for requesting the Free Write at the start of Class 5. This began a trend of my students popping into the narrative of the handbooks.
We returned from Neverland with a body of work that wouldn’t exist if we didn’t sit down to write it. I had such a wonderful time reading and writing with this wonderful group of kids!
For more information about our creative writing program, volunteer opportunities or internships, contact info@musesquad.org or visit MuseSquad.org.