Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a 1954 novel with many similarities to Peter and Wendy. It is about a group of boys who find themselves on an island, away from civilization. Unlike the light fantasy of Barrie's story, it's a grim Cold-War-era cautionary tale about their descent into savagery.

William Golding was certainly familiar with Peter Pan while writing Lord of the Flies, though probably only as one of many influences. Although Barrie paints it with more innocent colors (painted over again, even more garishly by Disney), both of them depict a group of boys separated from civilization on an island, reverting to a form of savagery. Peter Pan - who was originally conceived of as the villain of the story - can be thoughtlessly ruthless, and although he's an effective leader, he's not a wise one (like Jack in Golding's book). One key difference is that Barrie's boys, while tending toward savagery on their own, also strongly want to be civilized by someone: they want a mother.