Six Children's Book Characters Inspired by Real People

Mental Floss gives a quick run down of famous characters based on real people.

People like Michael Llewelyn Davies (pictured above)...

Michael Llewelyn Davies was one of a band of brothers author J.M. Barrie became friendly with before writing Peter Pan – if you’ve seen Finding Neverland, you already know that. Davies was the fourth of five sons born to Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and although Barrie used them all as inspiration, especially for the Lost Boys, it’s Michael who is thought to have been The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up himself. Michael was an infant when Barrie was writing about Peter as an infant, and was almost five when Barrie wrote Peter Pan. When both Llewelyn Davies parents died, Barrie became the legal guardian of the boys, who called him “Uncle Jim.” Sadly, Michael died in a somewhat suspicious drowning when he was just 21 years old (it’s speculated that he and his male lover may have had some sort of a suicide pact).