Most Popular Books by Robert Newton Peck

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.

"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

In celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Robert Newton Peck''s bestselling classic, A Day No Pigs Would Die, here is the eagerly anticipated sequel. This must for schools, libraries, and summer reading lists is now available for the first time in paperback. Times are difficult during the Great Depression, and thirteen-year-old Rob Peck must struggle to keep his family together after the death of his father. Disaster after disaster strikes and the family is forced to sell their farm. Relying solely on their strong Shaker faith and close family ties, the Pecks finally prevail and young Rob learns that true wealth extends beyond money and that real values are priceless.

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.

A young girl living on a Vermont farm relates the events of the day her uncle brought her a genuine "Junior G-man machine gun."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Sixteen-year-old Tee sets off on a grueling cattle drive up through the Florida wilderness of the 1920s in order to prove to his father that he is just as talented a rider as his older brother Micah. Reprint.

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.

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

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

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.

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 hand 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.

Twelve-year-old mascot Babe helps her aging friend and pitcher Sober McGinty arrive in time for the antics at Durkee''s Lot when two local teams meet for the biggest game of the season.

Higbee Hartburn, Graffiti Prep''s foremost prankster, goes to great lengths to provide the school with a victorious basketball team.

Drawings by Hal Frenck.

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

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.

A bishop''s wife and a used-car salesman compete in a watermelon seed-spitting contest.

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

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.

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.

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.

When his irresponsible younger brother dies in an accident, Hiram MacHugh, a bachelor and justice of the peace of Hallapoosa, Florida, takes in his young niece and nephew

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

The year she turns twelve on Spanish Hoof, her family''s beloved ranch in Florida, Harry gets a pony and learns some hard lessons about life.

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

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