New Releases by Robert Newton Peck

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.

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.

"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.

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 collection of mini lessons with accompanying CD that teaches creative writing to middle-school students.

In HOW to write fiction like a pro: A simple-to-savvy toolkit for aspiring authors, celebrated author Robert Newton Peck provides emerging writers with the power tools they need to start building their own books. Readers will learn everything from pacing a story and writing dialogue that flows to molding the tangible "stuff" of life into characters and storylines of fiction. HOW is written in the straightforward, earthy, and humorous voice that fans of Rob''s fiction have come to know and love. Informative but not preachy, HOW''s lighthearted style immediately engages readers, inspiring them to take up the tools and write from their own lives and their own strengths.Learning isn''t a load. It''s laughter.Aspiring authors are sure to learn--and laugh--as they discover HOW to write fiction like a pro.

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.

In 1938, with the help of a doctor and her elderly, horse-thieving father, a seventeen-year-old orphan steals thirteen horses from Chickalookee, Florida''s doomed rodeo and finds a family in the process.

After an airplane crash that claims the lives of most of his family, sixteen-year-old Tate finds unexpected solace in the stories of his great-aunt Vidalia''s childhood travels with a Depression-era Negro League baseball team.

In Depression-era Florida, young Yoolee assumes the responsibility of protecting his family from an unspeakable horror stalking the swamplands.

Grade level: 4, 5, 6, 7, e, i.

The story of growing up on a Shaker farm touches the whole cycle of life and death with simplicity.

As Valentine''s Day approaches their Vermont town of Learning, Soup and Rob experience several forms of love.

Unplanned events erupt on stage during the Thanksgiving pageant when the uncommon cold forces Soup, Rob, and the other pilgrims around the glowing stove, making the fifty-pound live turkey very frisky and setting off bags of corn.

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.

The further adventures and misadventures of Rob and Soup, two boys growing up in a small Vermont town.

Rob totes Soup''s huge drum through the Fourth of July parade before he realizes Soup hasn''t carried his share. Before the close of the celebration Rob gets even.

In 1932 in Florida, despite his older brother''s objections, fifteen-year-old Ladd finds himself, through a series of unforeseen circumstances, traveling alone more than 100 miles to bring back wild horses for the rodeo and for breeding.

Sixteen-year-old Kenny''s hike through the Adirondacks in search of a writer at Lost Pond becomes a fight for survival as he realizes he is not alone in the hostile wilderness.

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

Assisted by her friends costumed as Samson and Gideon, frecklefaced Trig masquerades as the seductive Delilah for the church Halloween costume pageant.

Kirby Tree, a young professional tennis player, discovers that his opponent in a local Florida tournament, is his long lost father and the man his uncle, Little Man Tree, has sworn to kill

An official Junior G-man takes matters into her own hands when Clodburg''s only uniformed policeman is replaced by a traffic light.

Rob and Soup vie for the prize in their town''s Vermont Mardy Grah.

A rugged life-style in the Vermont woods with a feisty old hunter called Wishbone Kirk develops the character of a 15-year-old boy.

When their teacher enters the annual Chump''s Landing Overland Obstacle Bicycle Race, Horrace Hubert and his best friend Spooner Jitwell do everything they can to make sure she wins the silver trophy.

The story of Abbott Coe, 16-year-old orphan boy, set in the wilds of Canada in 1754 as the French and Indian War brewed across North America.

A Vermont youth becomes involved with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys despite his father''s Tory leanings in the early days of the Revolutionary War.