Author Ridley Pearson doesn't disappoint. A tidy man of middle years, barely any gray in his curly hair, the one-time resident of the Wood River Valley rises sometime around 5 a.m. to work for several hours. At an appointed hour he arrives, on time and focused, to chat about his latest book, "Peter and the Shadow Thieves."
A sequel to "Peter and the Star Catchers," the book was co-authored again with his longtime friend, writer and humorist Dave Barry. A sequel "Shadow Thieves" might be, but it's also a prequel to J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan.
Though he has limited time—he must get back to work—Pearson is happy to chat about children, school, the valley, getting a haircut in Paris and the oppressive heat in his current hometown of St. Louis. Chatting with the amiable Pearson is always a pleasure. One wonders how this regular Joe continues to amaze and produce such fully fleshed-out characters and plots. He hides within a brain of unique dexterity.
A best-selling author of suspense novels, often with intensely gruesome psychological issues, Pearson remarkably turns out a book a year. His parents, Betty and Robert Pearson, live in Bellevue; his siblings are frequent visitors. Pearson's first few novels were sly mystery capers set in a place very similar to the Wood River Valley, whose protagonist was named Wendell McCall.
One of his two young daughters, Paige, now 9, asked a simple question one night while Pearson read the original tome to her: "How did a flying boy meet Captain Hook?"
With that question in mind, Pearson mentioned it to Barry, with whom he plays in a literary all-star band, the Rock Bottom Remainders. Barry was immediately smitten with the idea.
"The first book had many questions to answer," Pearson said. "What is the genesis of Tinkerbell? How can Peter fly? Why doesn't he grow old?"
"Starcatchers" filled in the blanks, tracking Peter and his friends from St. Norbert's Home for Wayward Boys on a treacherous sea voyage on a ship called Never Land. He bonds with a girl named Molly and faces the wrath of a pirate named Black Stache, who has nefarious designs on treasure inside a special and mysterious trunk.
"Starcatchers" was on The New York Times best seller list for 47 weeks.
The second book came about because there were still issues to grapple with before J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan" picks up the tale.
"I said to Dave, we have to explain about the shadows. It started as a fun book. Why are shadows important? Are they part of your soul? We take it back to Dickensonian Victorian London. The third will have bigger issues."
In "Shadow Thieves," Peter and Tinker Bell have a new quest, an adventure fraught with danger as they return to London, on the heels of the creepy part-man/part-creature Lord Ombra, who has a variety of mysterious powers including the ability to make shadows disappear. When Peter reaches London, he sets out to find the indomitable Molly, the heroine from "Starcatchers," whose parents are inexorably drawn into the dangerous melee.
Pearson, somewhat gleefully, said that in the first book Peter dealt with evil. "Now he's dealing with worse than evil. There's some J.M. Barrie in this, some tricks, and homages that flow into a mind-blowing yarn. This one we could just tell a story. It ends up kind of a house on fire. This poor kid is just thrown into the streets of London. It gets very hairy."
The combination of their writing styles works perfectly, Pearson said. "Working with Dave Barry is the pleasure of all time. He's incredibly good at plotting. He's smart, funny, fast on his feet and a diligent writer. We do this out of friendship. There's no ego in it. The great thing is we trust each other."
Between them, they are creating new classics in the style, one might say, of Harry Potter. Pearson has heard the comparisons.
"It wasn't our intention to create the American Harry Potter. We thought we'd write a 100- to 150-page book, but at 200-some pages Disney had a look and decided to publish it. That said, we couldn't have done this without J.K. Rowling."
Rowling burst through the norm for children's literature that was dominating the market. She showed you can succeed with long stories. Children will read any length as long as they are fully engaged, Pearson said. "It feels like she came out of the tradition of Frank Baum and C.S. Lewis. She's just great. The books are enchanting."
Whether it's Harry Potter, Dorothy or Peter Pan, there's something about indomitable kids facing adventure and danger. There's also something about the crazy adults who manage to tap into their fantasies and write about them, thus entertaining the world.
"Peter and the Shadow Thieves" Book Signing:
· Where: Chapter One Bookstore, Ketchum.
· When: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 6.
Ridley Pearson
