Fairy Tales: Peter Pan
The new series this week is “Fairy Tales”. To crown the week, Peter Pan makes the debut. I was originally resisting doing Peter Pan (I have no idea why). But every time I would ask my husband which fairy tale I should illustrate first, he would always say, “Peter Pan.” And then I’d ask him for another idea and he’d tell me something like, “The dish and the spoon” or “the cow jumping over the moon” or “little Miss Muffet.” After which I’d have to tell him that those are nursery rhymes and completely different than fairy tales. He’d look at me so perplexed! Sooo if any of you are confused by the difference yourself, I’ll let Oxford American Dictionaries explain it to you:
fairy tale: a children’s story about magical and imaginary beings and lands.
nursery rhymes: a simple traditional song or poem for children.
There you go, hunny… if you’re reading this, that’s the difference!
And Mr. Peter Pan is dedicated to you today, my “darling”
Now for the rest of you, let me in on your thoughts! Which nursery rhymes… I mean FAIRY TALES 
… would you like to see illustrated this week?
Would love to see Beauty & the Beast…
I absolutely *love* this one!!! It’s probably my favorite you’ve done so far.
I would love to see Snow White, or Sleeping Beauty, or the Little Mermaid…I love fairy tales and can’t wait to see what you come up with! 
Agh, I LOVE Peter Pan, that’s so awesome! This one (Uh, probably this whole week!) will definitely end up in the playroom I’m planning.
Others? Alice in Wonderland, Little Red Riding Hood,
and IF you ever do nursery rhymes…Mary had a little lamb. My six-month old is named Mary
Hi Katie!
I love your work and I’m so glad you chose Peter Pan!!!
I would love to see Robin Hood, The Princess and the Pea, and if Jungle Book counts as a fairy tale I think it would be cute to see! My husband says Paul Bunyan!!
Can’t wait to see what you choose!
Keep up the awesome work!!
Ooh-I second the Princess and the Pea
If you do a whole Peter Pan series, you will be my hero. Seriously. I will send you baked goods.
Lol!! This is my first bribe on the site! Love it! I will keep this in mind (for another week probably). You are so right though…. I could do a whole series on probably any fairytale! Especially this one!
I would LOVE a boyish week of fairy tales and a girlish week. I have 3 boys would love fairy tales but not princesses!!
Hmmm… I am seriously thinking about this… Thank you for the idea!
I’m with you Traci, boyish fairy tales would be wonderful… Robin Hood, Petes Dragon, Aladdin, The Boy who Cried Wolf, Rumpilstilskin (sp? HA)… the list goes on! BTW, Katie I love that you’re doing this. Your illustrations are gorgeous and so whimsical. Even if I don’t download everyday I love to come see what you’re up to!
Great illustration!
Well if you want a list to choose from, would you believe Wikipedia has an exhaustive list of fairy tales? This could easily be a two-week theme!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fairy_tales
I like the Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack and the Beanstalk. One of my sons is obsessed with the wolves from the first two stories!
I hadn’t thought to look for a list! I’m so glad you did! Thanks! Thanks for the suggestions too!
This has to be one of my favorite themes so far…some ideas:
Alice in Wonderland – Hansel and Gretel – Puss in Boots – Wizard of Oz. I’ll be checking in tomorrow to see what you do next!
OH, I’m excited about this week! The ugly duckling is one of my favorites! I looked at the wiki list and Puff the Magic Dragon is not on the list, but it seems to meet the criteria of a fairy tale… My son loves dragons! Would love to see one with a dragon! The other one I loved as a kid was The Princess and the Pea! I did see one on the list, no idea what it’s about, but I was inspired by the name, The Bee and the Orange Tree… Can’t wait to see what comes next!
Would love Puff the Magic Dragon! My son adores dragons!
Ooh! These were some of my own favorites as a kid: “Puff” and “Pea”! THANKS!
If I could only choose one, it would be Cinderella. I asked my mom read this book to me at least 10x a day when I was little (no joke!).
If she missed one little word I knew it…Cinderealla has been my favorite princess all along and my little girl’s name is Ella!
2nd choice would be Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. These two are my little one’s favorite princesses right now.
Awesome series!!
I would love to see Alice in Wonderland or Little Red Riding Hood or The Three Little Pigs. A few princess stories thrown in there wouldn’t hurt either! :-0 This one is a really cool theme!
Love Peter Pan! My son loves ANYTHING with Dragons, Puss in Boots and the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Growing up I was always read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I also LOVED Robin Hood.
Princess and the Pea!! Princess and the Pea!! That one just doesn’t get enough recognition.
I can already tell these will be some of my faves!
The are going to be great! Love this one. And I’m with the previous poster who suggested a week for boys and a week for girls. Still no baby yet but even if it turns out to be a girl, I’m not a huge princess fan.
I think you could do something really cool with Jack and the Beanstalk. The Little Mermaid is my all-time favorite!
this illustration is awesome! i love it so very, very much! i can’t wait to see what else you have in mind for this week! the little mermaid would be pretty cool!
My kids’ absolute favorite story is Hansel and Gretel. Other favorites– Little Red Riding Hood; Rapunzel; Elves and the Shoemaker; Princess and the Pea; 3 Little Pigs; Jack & the Beanstalk. How about Wizard of Oz? Is that considered a fairytale? I read that one aloud with my 5 & 7-year-old kids and they were completely captivated.
Kind of surprised no one has said it yet…Tinkerbell or fairies in general. Would love a 3 Little Pigs one. Are you sure you only want to do 1 week of fairytale illustrations? There’s so many that would be super cute.
Just thought of another one after watching a preview for “Tangled”. What about Rapunzel? I could see you having a lot of fun with the long hair in your illustration.
How about Tom Thumb, Jack and the Beanstalk, or Rumpelstiltskin?
Little Red riding hood would be amazing!
Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty! Oh and Thumbelina!
Love it! The Little Mermaid would be incredible. I think my daughter would stare at it day and night.
Little Red Riding Hood. There are SO many great ones, but that was the first that popped into my head. But I also second (or third or fourth . . .) the one week of “girl” and one week of “boy” stories. I have one of both, so don’t care if you mix them, but that would give us two weeks of Fairy Tales, not just one. And . . . I think you should definitely do a week of Nursery Rhymes too! (It’s nice to know others understand the difference, I have taught and have a Master’s in Library Science and have been a school librarian. I LOVE children’s literature!!!)
Beautiful illustrations! My suggestions are not really fairy tales, but I’d love to see what you would do with Astrid Lindgren’s characters like Pippi Longstocking, Emil of Lönneberga and my son’s favourite Karlsson-on-the-Roof.
What about the Gingerbread Man? I love the Gingerbread Man! I don’t know if you’d really consider that a Fairy Tale, but maybe in the future?