Richard Peck (1934–2018)
Author of A Long Way from Chicago
About the Author
Richard Peck was born in Decatur, Illinois on April 5, 1934. He received a bachelor's degree in English literature from DePauw University in 1956. After graduation, he served two years in the U.S. Army in Germany, where he worked as a chaplain's assistant writing sermons and completing paperwork. show more He received a master's degree in English from Southern Illinois University in 1959. He taught high school English in Illinois and New York City. He stopped teaching in 1971 to write a novel. His first book, Don't Look and It Won't Hurt, was published in 1972 and was adapted as the 1992 film Gas Food Lodging. He wrote more than 40 books for both adults and young adults including Amanda/Miranda, Those Summer Girls I Never Met, The River Between Us, A Long Way from Chicago, A Season of Gifts, The Teacher's Funeral, Fair Weather, Here Lies the Librarian, On the Wings of Heroes, and The Best Man. A Year down Yonder won the Newbery Medal in 2001 and Are You in the House Alone? won an Edgar Award. The Ghost Belonged to Me was adapted into the film Child of Glass. He received the MAE Award in 1990 and the National Humanities Medal in 2002. He died following a long battle with cancer on May 23, 2018 at the age of 84. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Richard Peck
River Between Us, The 2 copies
The Teachers Funerall 1 copy
Associated Works
Time Capsule: Short Stories About Teenagers Throughout the Twentieth Century (1999) — Contributor — 58 copies
From One Experience to Another: Award-Winning Authors Sharing Real-Life Experiences Through Fiction (1997) — Contributor — 42 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1934-04-10
- Date of death
- 2018-05-23
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Decatur, Illinois, USA
- Place of death
- Manhattan, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- Illinois, USA
New York, USA - Education
- University of Oxford (Exeter College)
- Occupations
- teacher
lecturer - Organizations
- United States Army
- Awards and honors
- National Humanities Medal (2001)
Boston Globe - Horn Book Award (2017)
Members
Discussions
1980s? fiction novel involving time travel, the Titanic and Adoph Hitler in Name that Book (June 2016)
Reviews
It's 1893 and Chicago is hosting the World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the World's Fair, and people are coming from all over to see the sights. Rosie, her older sister and younger brother are invited to attend as guests of their aunt, a rich widow who lives in the city. As usual with this author's tales, things don't always go as planned, but with smile-inducing results. Fun read as an adult, probably would be a good book to eventually pass on to my grandchildren, who live in Chicago!
I really enjoyed this, even though I hadn't read the first one. The relationship between grandmother and granddaughter is understated but very tender and the comic moments are a lot of fun. a warning to animal lovers, there is one chapter regarding foxes that you might want to skip altogether. It is a country/farm based story and rather matter of fact about things that would upset people
Lists
4th Grade Books (3)
grrrrrl power (1)
Ghosts (1)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 59
- Also by
- 20
- Members
- 22,889
- Popularity
- #922
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 603
- ISBNs
- 494
- Languages
- 12
- Favorited
- 22
The PHANTOM was the best one.
"Movies is all pretend.
They're made in California, you know. But they prove a point.
Make something SEEM real and people will believe it.
The public wil swallow anything."
(1/2 star off for hunting and trapping fish was awful.)