Peter Pan
J. M. Barrie, 1911.
Before you read: The book includes fighting and a pirate threat. It is a fantasy, best read with a grown-up nearby for younger children.
Wendy Darling and her brothers fly to Neverland with a boy who refuses to grow up. There are lost boys, a lagoon, and Captain Hook, who is afraid of a crocodile that already swallowed a clock. Barrie is funny about parents and sharp about Peter, who forgets people as easily as he makes them follow him. Growing up is not treated as a pure loss or a pure win. The nursery stays important even while the island is louder.
Public-domain text.