Lost Boys

In the classic 1904 J.M. Barrie play Peter Pan, the Lost Boys are a band of small children that live under Peter's care in Never-Never Land. They were all rescued by Peter after falling out of their prams as infants (this being the origin of their "lost" status, presumably) and taken to his underground hideout to live.

At the beginning of the story, the Lost Boys act as a catalyst for the introduction of Wendy, John and Michael Darling. Peter Pan is introduced to these primary characters when he intentionally eavesdrops on their bedtime stories. His reason for doing this is so he can retell them to the Lost Boys. Later on, the boys play a role in injuring Wendy after being exploited by Tinkerbell out of jealousy. Then Captain Hook kidnaps the Lost Boys, making them a plot device for a daring rescue. In the happy ending, the Lost Boys are adopted by the Darling family, making them "found" boys at last.

In the 1953 Disney animated feature, all the Lost Boys are depicted wearing brightly colored pajamas/costumes resembling small woodland creatures of various types (rabbit, skunk, fox, et alii). I'm not sure if Barrie had this in mind, but I don't imagine anyone would question Disney's artistic license on the issue.

Novel in which a mormon family moves to Raleigh, NC in order for the father to accept a job as a computer programmer. When they arrive in the new town, they learn that several children have been abducted. When their son begins to play with his imaginary friends more and more the parents become worried. Their worries increase when they discover that all of his friend's names are the same as the names of the missing children. Throughout the book, the caretaker comes to work on the house and after almost every time, there is a the mysterious phenomena of many insects/bugs appearing throughout the house. At the end of the story, during Christmas, their son appears at the back door to the house surrounded by the other missing children. Their son had been able to see, hear, and talk with these children who had been abducted by the caretaker and buried under the house. Each buriel coinciding with an outbreak of insects. The son had goaded the caretaker into killing him so that he could then appear to his parents and convince them to help the lost boys. The children all spent Christmas with that family as their parents were called over to have a chance to say their last goodbye.