Lost Girls
By Jane Yolen, first published in Realms of Fantasy
Girls are being recruited to obey the Lost Boys and Peter Pan as servants and a young girl chooses to take a stand against this misogynistic system.
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Plot Summary
A young girl by the name of Darla is reading Peter Pan with her mother and argues that it isn't fair that Wendy has to do all the work and Peter Pan and the boys get to fight. Her mother sighs and puts her to sleep, not willing to argue with her or the original author.
However, as Darla drifts to sleep, she finds herself in Neverland and being welcomed into the Lost Boys by Peter Pan. Peter soon realizes that Darla is not as gullible as the other girls he has recruited—all called Wendy because he does not care to remember their names—because she refuses to give him a kiss or follow his rules. Her individual rebellion sparks confusion among the other girls, who are clearly unhappy with their line of work as servants.
As a result, Darla recruits the help of the Wendys—the original Wendy as well as other girls like JoAnne and Lizzy—to stage a strike for equal status as the Lost Boys. However, Peter finds their protest humorous and disrespectful. He sends them out to fight the pirates, hoping they will learn their lesson. As the girls, nicknamed The Lost Girls by Darla, are captured by the pirates, they soon learn that Peter has been fighting against a female captain. Mrs. Hook takes in the girls and cares for them, explaining that the pirates have been trying to rescue the girls for many years.
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