Bookverdict.com

Gr 4–6—The inimitable Peck frames his latest novel with weddings. Opening with a flashback to a hilariously disastrous wedding when Archer Magill was in first grade, the book closes with a significantly more staid one that occurs when he is in sixth grade. Most of the story, though, takes place between these two events, during Archer's fifth grade year. A military-based student teacher both disrupts Archer's class and...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Rise and toast The Best Man, Peck's story about Archer Magill, a boy growing from a raw dollop of kindergarten id into a functional middle-school kid, a budding citizen of the world. As a participant in the two weddings that launch and conclude the novel (the first when he is six and the latter as a sixth grader), Archer is a familiar American type: a kid's kid, of the sort readers may recognize from Beverly Cleary or Eleanor Estes. Decent, a little clueless -- neither a hero nor a bystander, Archer is aware of wanting grownups to emulate. Among the men Arc...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Wanting grownups to emulate, Archer Magill applauds his uncle Paul; that Paul turns out to be gay is not a crisis. Uncle Paul's li...Log In or Sign Up to Read More