March
17
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How THE BEST MAN Came to Be by Richard Peck
The book was born, or at least begun, on the June day in 2014 when Illinois state legislation implemented same-sex marriage. I hoped that by the time the book was finished, same-sex marriage would be the law of the land. But history moved faster than my book.
History often does. History moves in fits and starts and takes sudden leaps. And now for the first time in our history marriage is everybody’s right.
But have the youngest readers among us heard? The standardized test and the textbook haven’t caught up. It seemed to me it was time for a story. A novel was needed, addressed to grade-school and middle-school readers. A novel to spark discussion and to open a door to a world suddenly living in a whole different era.
When I began to hear the story in my head, a boy was telling it, a boy looking ahead to the adult world in search of role models. I give him some great ones: a grandfather, a dad, an uncle, a teacher. A dad who’s doing his best to be a good father to his son and a good son to his father. An uncle who can sweep the world clean of the scariest bully in first grade. A teacher who thinks fifth-graders are strange and fascinating characters.
And so the story is all about a boy named Archer Magill, trying to untangle the bewildering world of his adults and to get his role models in a row. Then one of them wants to marry another one of them.
I hope my story doesn’t preach, and I hope it’s not political. I hope it’s a story about love and loss and laughter and family. About how people live today, American people, with their young ones looking up to them. I hope it’s a story about how history happens even if you aren’t learning any in school.
Richard Peck
2016
Richard Peck has won almost every children’s fiction award, including the Margaret A. Edwards Award, the Newbery Medal, the Scott O’Dell Award, and the Edgar, and he has twice been nominated for a National Book Award. He was the first children’s author ever to have been awarded a National Humanities Medal. He lives in New York City.
The Best Man hits shelves September 20th.
Nerdy Book Club 
It sounds wonderful and I look forward to reading & sharing it. Thank you for writing this story.
Interesting, I must say.
I’m looking forward to reading it. What do you think is an appropriate age for this story?
From the publisher: grades fourth and up.
Sounds like a wonderful book. What do you mean by saying you hope the book is not political? I’d love to know. What do you mean by political? Thanks.
Very much looking forward to this one!!!
I’ve had several students it sounds like who could maybe find their family or themselves in this book! I love when authors write books that kids need 🙂 Thanks!
– Amanda
Thank you–we need more books like this.
Glad history moved faster than Peck’s book. I look forward to reading this. I hope this book finds its way into the hands of MANY kids!
Very Interesting Post, Good For You
Thanks for the great post!!! I love Richard Peck. I even got to meet him at an SCBWI Summer Conference.
I look forward to reading this book. Mr. Peck’s The River Between Us turned my husband into a reader of kid lit.
LOVE Richard Peck!!! Can’t wait to read this!!!!!
Richard Peck is one of my favorite authors. When I want to spend a quiet night reading or need a good book to take on a plane ride, I reach for A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO. This book opens with one of the best first lines ever written since Charlotte’s Web. I’m looking forward to reading his latest book, THE BEST MAN.
I had the pleasure of listening to Mr. Peck’s keynote speech at a SCBWI conference. His scrumptious words brought a standing ovation, of course.
I’m a former student of Richard Peck and so very eager to read his latest book!
I loved this book! Heartwarming and wise, funny and delightful. Many kudos to Richard Peck!!!