The Little White Bird is a novel by the Scottish writer J. M. Barrie, ranging in tone from fantasy and whimsy to social comedy with dark, aggressive undertones.[3] It was published in November 1902, by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and Scribner's in the US (and the latter also published it serially in the monthly Scribner's Magazine from August to November).[1] The book attained prominence and longevity thanks to several chapters written in a softer tone than the rest of the book, which introduced the character and mythology of Peter Pan. In 1906, those chapters were published separately as a children's book, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.[3]
The Peter Pan story began as one chapter and grew to an "elaborate book-within-a-book" of more than one hundred pages during the four years Barrie worked on The Little White Bird.[4]
The complete book has also been published under the title The Little White Bird, or Adventures in Kensington Gardens.[5]
