Local mystery writer tries for kids' best-seller

If you've written 20 adult mystery books, toured with a celebrity "garage band" and have a family, wouldn't you think you were fully-employed?

For St. Louis writer Ridley Pearson, the answer is "No."

So, what did he do next? He's teamed with newspaper columnist Dave Barry to write a best-selling kids book. It's titled, "Peter Pan and the Starcatchers." And it's on the New York Times' best seller list for children's books.

Young Saint Louis.com articles usually tell about what St. Louis-area kids are doing.

But, every once in awhile, YSL.com writes about adults. That is, if what the adults do is of interest to local kids.

One previous time involved the Harry Potter books. Then, YSL.com's interest extended beyond stories and book reviews. We added kid-written reviews of Harry Potter movies.

We don't know whether the Peter Pan book will match Harry Potter. But, one of the authors is from St. Louis and the book is selling well.

So, we're giving special coverage to this new effort. Coverage includes this article about the authors and a separate, special book review. (To read the review, just click here.)

The idea to write "Peter Pan and the Starcatchers" is said to have come from Mr. Pearson's daughter, Paige, who was then 5. He was reading her the original "Peter Pan," a long-time kids favorite by J.M. Barrie.

Paige asked her dad such things as: "Just how did Peter meet Captain Hook, anyway?" How did Hook lose his hand and what about Tinker Bell?.

Co-authors Pearson and Dave Barry might seem like an unlikely team.

Pearson's previous books have been sophisticated adult mysteries. Mr. Barry is best known locally for his column in the Sunday St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Pearson has homes in St. Louis and the West. Barrie is a long-time columnist for the Miami Herald.

But, they've worked together previously.

They're both in the unique "garage band" called Rockbottom Reminders.

That band started in 1992 in California. The members weren't professional musicians; they're professional writers and entertainers. Others members who sit in include sci-fi author Stephen King and comedian Steve Martin.

Last October, the group played a St. Louis concert at The Pageant.

Pearson and Barry are taking their Peter Pan collaboration very seriously. They say they have the plotting done on two more books. They are all "prequels." That means they are to answer Paige Ridley's questions.

It's like writing about the beginning of a story after the original story has been written.

To make room for all this new work, Barry is going to quit writing his newspaper columns in January. He's been writing that column for 30 years, even while on vacation.

Barry is also finishing up a film based on one of his books, "Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys." Barry acts in the movie, plays himself.

The Disney company is backing the Peter Pan effort. That marketing-driven company sees the books as a "franchise." That means it has lots of spinoffs in mind. There's already talk of a stage play.

Pearson said, "Disney saw the possibility a franchise far sooner than we did."

He said it took the authors a couple years just to put his daughter's questions into a book.

But, the focus on fantasy is almost a no-brainer in publishing these days.

Throughout history, kids have liked fantasy. In addition to the original Peter Pan, there were "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "Charlotte's Web."

But, for a time, there wasn't much new fantasy writing.

That all changed when the Harry Potter books burst on the scene. Author J. K. Rowling was an unemployed teacher when she wrote her first Harry Potter book in England.

Now, she's considered to be the most widely published author in history, with millions of books in print in dozens of languages. She's also thought to be a billionaire.

Whether St. Louisan Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry will be in that league is certainly in question. But, the first book is going well and it has Disney behind it. We'll see.

If you'd like to read more about Mr. Pearson and the Peter Pan book, you can visit two websites, www.peterandthestarcatchers.com and www.ridleypearson.com.