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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘Peter Pan’ sequel in works

From wire reports

A sequel to the classic book “Peter Pan” will be published this fall, but the only information available about it now is its title: “Peter Pan in Scarlet.”

The book by award-winning children’s author Geraldine McCaughrean promises readers “high adventure, dramatic tensions and all the swashbuckling, danger and derring-do they can handle.”

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children owns the copyright to the original J.M. Barrie story about the boy who never grew up. After a worldwide search for an author, the hospital trustees chose McCaughrean to write the sequel.

The trust stipulated that the book must feature the original characters: Peter, Wendy, Tinkerbell, the rest of the Darling family and the fearsome Captain Hook.

The book will be published on Oct. 5, and the royalties will be split between McCaughrean and the hospital.

Feather in his cap

Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer who plays “Sesame Street” icons Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, will receive the lifetime achievement award at this year’s Daytime Emmy Awards on April 28.

“I am elated and amazed to receive this honor from those who are committed to the best of what television and media have to offer, for doing what I’ve always wanted to do,” Spinney, a puppeteer since he was 8, said in a statement.

Spinney has played the 8-foot-2, lemon-feathered Big Bird and garbage-can dweller Oscar the Grouch since the children’s public television series debuted in 1969.

He chronicled his experiences portraying the characters in the book “The Wisdom of Big Bird” (Villard, 2003).