Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

This is a follow-up to Peter and the Starcatchers by Barry and Pearson. They are prequels to the story of Peter Pan. In the first book, we meet Peter and the other orphan boys who are being sent by ship to a faraway land as slaves. They see a mysterious chest being loaded on board, and discover that it has strange powers. There is also a girl, Molly, and her governess on board. Molly and her father are Starcatchers, whose job it is to guard the starstuff which is in the trunk. They are being chased by pirates, led by the fierce and much-feared Black Stache, named for his foot-long black moustache. How this group ends up creating Never Land and the Peter Pan legend is a fascinating story.

In the second book, Peter discovers that a mysterious evil man has joined the group of Others who want to retrieve the starstuff. After they are unsuccessful in finding it on Never Land, they travel to London to kidnap Molly to convince her father to hand over the starstuff. Peter makes his first flying trip to London with Tinker Bell, riding at times in the rolled up sails of the ship. When they find Molly, with the help of a neighbor, James Barrie, her father is gone to return the starstuff and her mother has been kidnapped. Molly enlists the help of her friend George Darling and Molly, George, Peter and Tink have to try to find her father and save her mother.

These are lengthy books, but thoroughly enjoyable additions to the Peter Pan story!