Another Pan:
The Second of Another Series
by Daniel & Dina Nayeri
An ancient Egyptian spell is turning the tony Marlowe School into a sinister underworld. Will all hell break loose?
Released in October, 2010.
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A darkness continues to haunt the Marlowe School, and this time, someone is plotting payback. Wendy Darling, a headstrong junior, and her brother, John, a thirteen-year-old genius with a chip on his shoulder, struggle with being from the poorest family at the posh New York academy, where their father is a professor of ancient civilizations. Wendy’s new boyfriend, socialite golden-boy Connor Wirth, offers a solid step up in popularity, yet ambitious Wendy and John still find themselves longing for something more. When the Book of Gates, a mysterious tome of fabled origins, appears at Marlowe along with Peter, a dashing new resident adviser with a murky past, the Darlings are swept into a captivating world of “Lost Boys,” old-world secrets, and forbidden places. The book opens the door to a hidden labyrinthine underworld where Egyptian myths long thought impossible become frighteningly real. Suddenly, Peter, Wendy, and John find themselves captive in the lair of an age-old darkness, trying to escape the clutches of an ancient and beautiful child-thief who refuses to let go.
EARLY REVIEWS:
From BOOKLIST:
Returning to the Marlowe School, we meet Egyptology expert Professor Darling and his children, Wendy and John. Darling has spent his life trying to prove his theory about an ancient text, and his two children are helping their father ready the Egyptian artifacts for exhibition when they come across the secret that unlocks a frightening underworld maze where myths come to life. All the players are here, including the Lost Boys and Peter — a mysterious character with a hidden agenda. The evil Ms. Vileroy also returns. Similar in style but with a backstory more accessible than that in Another Faust (2009), this unique twist on a classic story should find even wider appreciation.
From KIRKUS:
Peter Pan is reimagined and set at the tony Marlowe School in New York. John and Wendy Darling are the children of Marlowe’s resident Egyptologist, and Peter is the new resident advisor. In the process of archiving some artifacts for their father, Wendy and John uncover a secret maze that hides bone dust, which Peter uses to stay eternally young. John and Wendy get clues to where they should go in the maze through their father’s classroom Egyptology lectures, but a cranky museum curator and an evil woman who poses as the school nurse are determined to stop them. The adventure and Egypt-as-life parallels keep the pages turning, but they sometimes get tangled in the subplots of romance, family and popularity. John, Wendy and Peter, though, are sympathetic characters who make Peter Pan’s themes of growth and fear of the unknown come alive.
From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL:
In this eerie fantasy, the second one set in the elite Marlowe school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the authors interweave Egyptian mythology with the story of a contemporary Peter Pan and a boarding-school counselor with an international gang of teenage boys (the Lost Boys)… The synthesis of Egyptian mythology and Barrie’s story becomes interesting when it becomes clear that the mysterious new school nurse with the damaged eye is connected to both the Egyptian god of the dead and Peter’s nemesis, Hook, and that Peter is searching for the secret of eternal youth in the pyramids of the underworld. The authors succeed in creating a sense of danger that builds to a suspenseful climax…. the characters are fleshed out more successfully, and Wendy’s love interests and her competition with Tina will help to hold readers’ attention. The authors have left the door open for a third book with their assertion that evil remains in wait in the school basement. Teens who like their fantasy layered and with multifaceted characters will enjoy this thought-provoking read.