Richard Peck, Don Freeman, . . Picture Puffin, $6.99 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-14-230196-8
In what PW
called an "ingenious tale" by the creator of Corduroy
(posthumously published), a groundhog always feels braver when his best pal, his shadow, accompanies him, but the two inadvertently become separated. Ages 2-6. (Nov.)
In this Newbery Honor book, Chicago-bred Mary Alice has been sentenced to a year-long stay in rural Illinois with her irrepressible, rough and gruff grandmother. Soon, however, she becomes Continue reading »
"Peck hilariously relates what happens when three farm children take on the 1893 Chicago World's Fair," wrote PW
in a starred review. "The Continue reading »
"If your teacher has to die, August isn't a bad time of year for it," begins Peck's (A Year Down Under
) latest rural comedy, set in the Continue reading »
In our Best Books citation, PW
wrote, "The author crafts his characters impeccably and threads together their fates in surprising ways that shed light on Continue reading »
Once again, Peck (The Teacher's Funeral
) combines warmth, humor and local color to create a vibrant rendering of small-town America. Set in 1914, an era Continue reading »
Peck (A Year Down Yonder
) concocts another delicious mixture of humor, warmth and local color in this period piece, which describes America during WWII through Continue reading »
The type of down-home humor and vibrant characterizations Peck fans have come to adore re-emerge in full as Peck resurrects Mrs. Dowdel, the irrepressible, self-sufficient grandmother featured in Continue reading »
In this hilarious and poignant sequel to A Long Way to Chicago, Peck once again shows that country life is anything but boring. Chicago-bred Mary Alice (who has previously weathered annual week-long Continue reading »
Peck (Strays Like Us) first created the inimitable central figure of this novel in a previously published short story. Although the narrator, Joey, and his younger sister, Mary Alice, live in the Continue reading »
Peck never writes a book that is less than a page-turner, and this paranormal horror story captures the extremes of joy and dread, belonging and ostracism that are the core of the high school Continue reading »
In this comic mystery, set in the Midwest in 1913, the ghost of a drowned girl warns a teenage boy of impending tragedy. Exploding steamships and burning bridges give the action a period flavor. Ages Continue reading »
Posthumously published, this ingenuous tale by the creator of Corduroy introduces another endearing, though not likely as enduring, animal character. Gregory Groundhog always feels braver when his Continue reading »
Past Perfect, Present Tense: New and Collected Stories: New and Collected Stories
Richard Peck
Two new stories pair with 11 previously published tales in Richard Peck's Past Perfect, Present Tense: New and Collected Stories, including ""Priscilla and the Wimps"" and ""The Special Powers of Continue reading »
Buck, Trav and Kate are inseparable friends during junior and senior high school, until Trav hangs himself at age 16. Parents and school boards accuse each other of irresponsibility in the matter; Continue reading »
Contacted by the spirit of an ancient Egyptian princess, Peck's feisty heroine Blossom finds herself hurtled into a world of curses, tombs and a missing mummy. Ages 10-up. Continue reading »
Drew isn't looking forward to spending two weeks trapped on an ocean liner with his ill-tempered sister Stephanie and Connie, the grandmother he hardly knows. But once the cruise begins, Drew is Continue reading »
A two-week family vacation in New York City becomes a trip across more than mere distance for Californian Chad. He discovers that he, his younger brother Luke and even his boy-crazy older sister Continue reading »
Drew Wingate's summer cruise with his grandmother turns out to be more fun than he expected. PW said, ``Drew's rapid-fire narration is deceptively lighthearted: his glib voice proves capable of Continue reading »
After her father leaves the family, Jessica becomes numb and resentful. She scorns her mother and longs for the company of her father. At Christmas, Jessica's dream seems to come true: she is sent to Continue reading »
Neither Southern California brats nor ornery hicks escape the malice of this rather mean-hearted slapstick novel. When Buffie Babcock's TV producer father goes broke, he and his family say ``good-bye Continue reading »
Fifteen-year-old Todd's dreams of a girlfriend seem on the verge of coming true when demure Laurel, a new student, becomes his kid sister Marnie's regular baby-sitter. But sweet-seeming Laurel has a Continue reading »
Despite the ``snide'' tone of this ``slick and compassionless'' tale of a Southern California showbiz kid uprooted to a hick town, the narrative, said PW, ``manages to be snappy, moving at a rackety Continue reading »
Peck not only understands the fragile emotions of adolescents, he also knows what kind of characters will pique their interest. In this tender novel, he paints a richly detailed portrait of Molly, a Continue reading »
Fifteen-year-old Todd sets out to undo the workings of an extremist religious group; in a starred review, PW called this ""taut [and] suspenseful... a highly topical tale."" Ages 10-up. Continue reading »
A farm girl accompanies her beauty queen friend to New York to keep her out of trouble; removed from her boarding school to stay with distant cousins in England, another girl pieces together facts Continue reading »
Amiable characters, fleet pacing and witty, in-the-know narration will keep even the non-bookish interested in this semi-fantastic adventure. Sixth-grader Josh, from an upscale Manhattan home, gets Continue reading »
When New York City prep-schooler Josh meddles with his best friend Aaron's computer project, a dinosaur presentation becomes a wish-granting program. The boys, first seen in Peck's Lost in Continue reading »
Three middle-aged American women, childhood friends from Cape Vincent, Mo., travel to London for a vacation in Peck's effervescent fourth adult novel (after This Family of Women). With them, they Continue reading »
Invitations to the World: Teaching and Writing for Young
Richard Peck
Aspiring writers learn from voices of experience in a trio of titles. In the first, Invitations to the World: Teaching and Writing for the Young, Newbery Medalist Richard Peck (A Year Down Yonder) Continue reading »
Richard Peck's only picture book, Monster Night at Grandma's House (1977), illus. by Don Freeman, appears here with an author's note recounting the volume's genesis. This tale of a boy's fearful Continue reading »
Newbery Medalist Peck?s (A Year Down Yonder) dry wit and gentle jabs at social mannerisms appear in full force in this charming tale of a 19th-century mouse family traveling abroad. The story begins Continue reading »
As endearing as Peck?s Secrets at Sea, this companion novel, also set during the Victorian era and accompanied by Murphy?s carefully detailed pencil illustrations, introduces a new cast of memorable Continue reading »
Markedly more contemporary than many of Peck?s previous novels, this drolly narrated coming-of-age story traces milestones in Archer Magill?s life from first to sixth grade while deftly addressing a Continue reading »
In this hilarious coming-of-age story, listeners follow Archer Magill from first grade in elementary through to middle school as puberty quickly approaches. The book recounts milestones in Archer?s Continue reading »
In this posthumously published work (the publisher notes in its catalogue that Freeman "left behind illustrations and a finished manuscript" for the story), the creator of Continue reading »
Never before published, this breezy, droll tale from the creator of Corduroy
focuses on a rite of passage for an ingenuous young squirrel. When Earl's Continue reading »
A music-loving praying mantis listens appreciatively to an orchestra, longing to become a musician himself. PW
called this posthumously published work by the Continue reading »
Corduroy's Best Halloween Ever! Corduroy's Best Halloween Ever!
Don Freeman
In Corduroy's Best Halloween Ever! based on Don Freeman's popular character, illus. by Lisa McCue, the fellow gets ready for a Halloween party. His inventive use of a tablecloth earns him costume Continue reading »
In this blithe story begun by the late Don Freeman (Corduroy), the squirrel introduced in Earl the Squirrel searches for acorns he has stashed away in the parks of Washington, D.C., as winter Continue reading »
Posthumously published, this ingenuous tale by the creator of Corduroy introduces another endearing, though not likely as enduring, animal character. Gregory Groundhog always feels braver when his Continue reading »
Fans of Don Freeman's work get a bang for their buck with Corduroy & Company: A Don Freeman Treasury. This hefty volume contains 1o previously published stories, including his first book, Chuggy Continue reading »
A host of board books helps usher in the holiday fun. Shaped like a pumpkin, Corduroy's Trick-or-Treat, illus. by Lisa McCue, features the titular teddy (based on Don Freeman's series hero) as he Continue reading »
Don Freeman's 1957 tale, Fly High, Fly Low, set against the foggy backdrop of San Francisco, charts the city life of Sid and Midge, two pigeons who make their home in the ""B"" of the Bay Hotel Continue reading »
Emily and her family have moved to a grand old Victorian house in a new neighborhood, much to the girl's relief. Plastic surgery has repaired terrible scars on Emily's face and she has the entire Continue reading »
Another Don Freeman story, Will's Quill, originally published in 1975, tells of a goose, Willoughby Waddle, who travels from the English countryside into London, ""startled to see so many people Continue reading »
In this Newbery Honor book, Chicago-bred Mary Alice has been sentenced to a year-long stay in rural Illinois with her irrepressible, rough and gruff grandmother. Soon, however, she becomes Continue reading »
Corduroy's Best Halloween Ever! Corduroy's Best Halloween Ever!
Don Freeman
In Corduroy's Best Halloween Ever! based on Don Freeman's popular character, illus. by Lisa McCue, the fellow gets ready for a Halloween party. His inventive use of a tablecloth earns him costume Continue reading »
In this hilarious and poignant sequel to A Long Way to Chicago, Peck once again shows that country life is anything but boring. Chicago-bred Mary Alice (who has previously weathered annual week-long Continue reading »
Richard Peck's only picture book, Monster Night at Grandma's House (1977), illus. by Don Freeman, appears here with an author's note recounting the volume's genesis. This tale of a boy's fearful Continue reading »
Q: When you wrote the short story 'Shotgun Cheatham’s Last Night Above Ground' years ago, did you have any inkling that it would grow into three entire novels?
A: No, I didn’t. Continue reading »
Veteran children's book author Richard Peck offered candid insight into the writing process during a workshop held June 10 at the Anthroposophical Society in New York Continue reading »
Richard Peck is thrilled that BEA is in Chicago this year. Not only is it a homecoming for the Decatur, Ill., native—“if you can go home again,” he says—but he credits the Continue reading »
Aceves’s debut balances brash humor and fumbling first loves in an East L.A. narrative that places serious significance on mental health. Bisexual, Mexican American Enrique Continue reading »
Seton Academic High prep school’s varsity football team attributes tradition to their 12-year winning streak, and they’re not about to let anything get in the way of another Continue reading »
When 17-year-olds Ada Lovelace and Mary Shelley née Godwin meet at a party, they become thick as thieves in Ashton, Hand, and Meadows’s (My Contrary Mary) inventive historical Continue reading »
Viscerally rendered emotions and resonant chronic-illness representation build to a thrilling collaboration that deals in horror tropes. Since her diagnosis, whose treatment Continue reading »