Most Popular Books by Robert Newton Peck

"Rural Vermont during the 1920''s is the setting for this nostalgic account of episodes in the lives of young Robert Peck and his pal, Soup."--starred, School Library Journal

Originally published in hardcover in 1972, A Day No Pigs Would Die was one of the first young adult books, along with titles like The Outsiders and The Chocolate War. In it, author Robert Newton Peck weaves a story of a Vermont boyhood that is part fiction, part memoir. The result is a moving coming-of-age story that still resonates with teens today.

This novel of a doctor’s life shows Robertson Davies at his elegant and entertaining best. “‘Never neglect the charms of narrative for the human heart,’ said Mr. Ramsay.” And we are back at Colborne College listening to the history teacher Dunstan Ramsay, the narrator ofFifth Business. In his audience are three close friends, boys whose lives will closely intertwine: Brocky Gilmartin, who will become a distinguished Professor of English at Waverly University; Charlie Iredale, destined to become an Anglican priest; and our narrator, Jonathon Hullah, soon to be a medical man. “I am an observer,” says Dr. Hullah; like his predecessor inFifth Businesshe has gone through a rich life always slightly on the outside, watching, noticing. His power of observation is the quality that makes him an extraordinary doctor. Known as “The Cunning Man,” he enjoys fame as a diagnostician that attracts even the Governor General, who comes to him with a very personal problem. His skill also makes him a perceptive storyteller and a shrewd chronicler of what he calls “flat-footed, hard-breathing, high-aspiring Toronto.” Jonathon Hullah has watched the growth of the city over a lifetime; first as a boy from Northern Ontario at Colborne College, then as an undergraduate, then as a medical student at the University who falls in love both with the stage and with the lovely Nuala Conor. Away on war service in Europe he loses Nuala to his best friend, but returns to the city with a greater desire to settle down and become a doctor with a practice rooted in somewhat unconventional medical beliefs. When he does, he finds himself thrown into contact with “the Ladies” – the two English artists who establish an artistic salon which everyone attends. He also finds himself thrown into the high drama of the feuds at St Aidan’s Anglican Church, which involve his school friend Charlie Iredale, and which culminate in a very suspicious death at the altar. In the course of Dr. Hullah’s extended memoir, we encounter at least one miraculous cure, and one well-publicised mirac≤ a Bad Breath Contest of Olympian standards; tales of cannibals and of Tsarist bordellos; an extended visit to Salterton; life in the Canadian army in the Second World War; horror in the London Blitz, a row in the dining room of the York Club; the murder of Dr. Hullah’s godson, Conor Gilmartin; medical solutions to several literary mysteries; and much insight into theatre, art and music (including Miss Annie McGruder’s very own composition “Let me call you Jesus”), not to mention the secrets of a doctor’s consulting room. This novel allows Robertson Davies to display his wit (school, he tells us, is “a form of jail with educational opportunities”) and his wisdom in a novel which, of course, never neglects the charm of narrative for the human heart.

Rob is determined to keep the family together following the death of his father.

From the author of "A Day No Pigs Would Die" comes a powerful coming-of-age novel about letting go of old dreams and realizing new ones, combining the importance of family with lively baseball action that won''t soon be forgotten.

While doing research for a school essay about a reclusive old mountain man, two boys fall into an abandoned mine shaft from which only the old man can rescue them.

Rob and Soup set in motion a wild scheme to catch the eye of the Hollywood talent scout visiting their small Vermont town.

With over 65 books published, including the breathtaking (and somewhat autobiographical) A Day No Pigs Would Die, Robert Newton Peck has enjoyed an illustrious writing career. Now, in an autobiography as unique as he is, Peck tells his story through the people in his life. From his roots as a poor Vermont farmer’s son to his years as a soldier in World War II, from his time slogging away in a paper mill to his semi-retirement in Florida, Peck shows us people who too often go unseen and unheard–the country’s poor and uneducated. “For decades, I’ve examined the autobiographies of my fellow authors. Bah! Many could have been titled And Then I Wrote . . . So instead of my life and lit, here is the unusual, a tarnished treasury of plain people who enriched me, taught me virtues, and helped me hold a mite of manhood. They’re not fancy folk, so please expect no long-stemmed roses from a florist. They are, instead, the unarranged flora that I’ve handpicked from God’s greenhouse . . . weeds in bloom.” From the Hardcover edition.

A visit from Uncle Virus and his motorcycle gang stimulates Soup to new and ingenious schemes, involving a cache of moonshine, a motorcycle competition, and revenge on the dreaded Janice Riker.

Anticipating the celebration of Miss Kelly Day in honor of the teacher of their one-room school in Learning, Vermont, Soup and Rob save the day from certain catastrophe at the hands of Dr. Elsa Pinkerton Uppit.

Greatly disappointed that the celebrated Miss K. will not be their teacher, Finley Streeter and Stanley Dragavich pull pranks on the new teacher in their small town.

Drawings by Hal Frenck.

Although Arly Poole seems bound to follow in his father''s footsteps as a field worker in Jailtown, Florida, where his family lives in 1927 in the shadow of a cruel boss, his world suddenly seems larger when a schoolteacher comes to town.

Soup and his best pal, Rob are planning to go on a hayride. Rob hopes it''s going to be an ordinary hayride, but he should know better when Soup is in charge. There''s no stopping the boys as they fly into action.

A freak snowstorm almost keeps Rob and his best friend Soup from celebrating Soup''s ninth birthday, but the boys'' ingenuity makes the party a success.

Tugwell Dockery hasn''t spoken since the horrific events that unfolded one afternoon six years ago at his grand-father''s ranch. Now he''s back there, newly orphaned, living with his grandfather and gutsy great-aunt. The only person who understands him is his brother, Broda Joe. But Broda Joe''s in jail, and Tug hasn''t seen him in two years. Now, more than ever, Tug needs Bro, but their reunion will cost them more than they ever expected.

Arly, an orphan in search of a home and a family, escapes from a brutal migrant labor camp, joins a traveling religious show, and battles a devastating Florida hurricane.

Rob and Soup engineer an incredible appearance by Santa and his sleigh in their small Vermont town.

Rob manages Soup''s campaign for class president in their small Vermont town.