The Boy Castaways of Black Lake Island

Book excerpt: The Boy Castaways of Black Lake Island is an illustrated adventure story by J.M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan. It records the terrible adventures of the Llewelyn Davies boys in the Summer of 1901. It includes thirty-five mounted photographs with typeset captions and a preface by Peter Llewelyn Davies. The photographs depict a swash-buckling tale of a pirate, tiger, crocodile, vultures, and the tropical island explorations of George, Jack, Peter, and Porthos, Barrie's Newfoundland dog, standing in alternately as a pirate's pet, a lion, and a devoted guard standing watch over the sleeping children. Barrie prepared the book as if it were written by Peter, who was only four years old at the time; it includes an introduction "by" the boy. The table of contents gives headlines supposedly taken from 16 chapters, but there is no actual prose backing them up. The list of illustrations, however, is accurate, with captions for the 35 photos and the frontispiece which make up the bulk of the book.