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Past Perfect, Present Tense Audiobook
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(3.11) - 247 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Though Richard Peck is best known as a novelist, he has been writing short stories—rousing, provocative, and thoroughly entertaining—throughout his career. “Priscilla and the Wimps,” his first, is perhaps the most-read children’s short story of all time. Others have inspired his award-winning novels: A Long Way from Chicago and A Year Down Yonder began with a tale called “Shotgun Cheatham’s Last Night Above Ground”; and “The Electric Summer” was the jumping point for Fair Weather. Compiled for the first time, here are all of Richard Peck’s stories: eleven previously published tales and two brand-new ones. He has also written engaging notes about the stories, an informative introduction about the genre, and tips on how to write short stories, including “Five Helpful Hints” that will be a valuable aid to aspiring authors. Vibrant and varied—from comic to supernatural, from historical to modern-day romantic—there’s something for everyone in the collected stories of Richard Peck.
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"A great collection of short stories that give start to some of the characters in later books. I go to the library and head to the "P" shelf in the junior fiction section and look for any and all Richard Peck books to see if by chance I have missed one. He is the BEST story teller!"
— Cass (4 out of 5 stars)
Past Perfect, Present Tense Listener Reviews
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" I really enjoyed reading Peck's thoughts on the importance and strength of the short story form, and a few of the stories in this collection fulfill the promise he makes in his introduction. They are dazzlers, especially Waiting for Sebastian. That ghost story gave me the shivers, and felt complete. Unfortunately, the majority of these short stories gave me the feeling that I was reading a chapter from a longer work. I was not satisfied. "
— Joanna, 2/16/2014 -
" Richard Peck's short stories are always entertaining! Good read! "
— Karen, 2/10/2014 -
" My favorite story in this collection is titled, By Far the Worst Pupil at Long Point School. Richard Peck does humor so well, no wonder kids love him. "
— Kari, 2/8/2014 -
" this is a good book woth many short stories, with endings where you want to hear more, like when the boy who halucinated about a girl who was in an incident 30 years ago sees it, and you want to know, why, how, and you wanted to fid out more. "
— Van, 1/31/2014 -
" I just love Richard Peck! Fun stories and fun characters. Love his writing style. In between each section of stories he has a chapter where he just has a conversation with the reader and he makes it feel personal. "
— Taylor, 1/28/2014 -
" its not great, its ok for younger kids "
— Sherin, 1/26/2014 -
" Super fun to read.... A little of everything! "
— Claudia, 1/26/2014 -
" Some of the most charming short stories I've read in a while. "
— Bonnie, 1/22/2014 -
" This took me back to all the great qualities of short stories. Each story was read the it's author. I was like listening to a wonderful radio show. I need to pick up more short stories. "
— Jo, 1/18/2014 -
" Most of the stories in this collection are cleverly written. I particularly like Girl at the Window, she is trying to get back in. "
— Donald, 1/15/2014 -
" Richard Peck is a brilliant writer for middle school readers, and this collection is a great teaching tool as well as an entertaining read. Peck comments on the writing process and on what fiction means to him. "
— Erin, 1/13/2014 -
" It's fun to read Peck's thought processes about some of his different stories. Many of the stories in this collection are very good, some are more average. "
— Lia, 1/9/2014 -
" We enjoyed this book of short stories. I picked it up when RIchard Peck came here to do a talk. He is an enjoyable author to listen to as well. We read these stories out loud together and everyone in the family enjoyed them. Richard Peck has a fun sense of humor! "
— Kristy, 1/2/2014 -
" A collection of short stories. The children begged for me to read these throughout the day. "
— Shauna, 12/8/2013 -
" Inspiring introductions to the sections. I plan to read portions of those intros to my students and I'll read them some of the stories, too. "
— Beth, 12/8/2013 -
" I listened to this book, and I should have read it. One of the readers was pretty awful. This collection of short stories range from fabulous to just ok. The best part of this book (tape) is the advice to young readers in the beginning and at the end of this book. "
— Jan, 11/7/2013 -
" I keep surprising myself by not thinking of Richard Peck, who is a wonderful author. The "past" and "present" stories were good, but this man writes seriously creepy ghost stories. I'm not sure I would have been able to handle them as a child. "
— Magda, 10/12/2013 -
" short stories, with an essay on what distinguishes a short story as well as introductions to each read by the author. I'm a sucker for authors thoughts/reflections on...just about anything so I enjoyed it for that if nothing else. "
— Malbadeen, 9/28/2013 -
" Found this little gem at Powell's in Chicago. While his name was familiar, I didn't know his work. Good inspiration for getting into the Young Adult frame of a writerly mind. I especially like the ghost stories. "
— Michael, 8/12/2013 -
" This book was a different kind of book, where it gives you different short stories instead of one big one. I liked having something new to read and I liked the different stories in the book. Overall this book was okay and I do not think I would reccomend it. "
— Ally, 6/6/2013 -
" Peck is an amazing writer. "
— Tessa, 5/13/2013 -
" This si interesting to read because you can find the origins of many of the charcters from his later novels. "
— Kristin, 5/11/2013 -
" Picked this up to read the Blossom Culp short story, but enjoyed the rest of them too. Also I liked his writing advice. "
— Jill, 4/17/2013 -
" Short stories as well as suggestion on how to write them. "
— Hapzydeco, 2/16/2013 -
" I'm a big Richard Peck fan, so it was interesting to read some of his shorter stories. "
— Jennifer, 1/4/2013 -
" If you are interested in writing, this is one of those great books writers write about writing. I loved it. "
— Jody, 8/30/2012 -
" My favorite was Shadows. Didn't like the rest as much... "
— Kendall, 8/7/2012 -
" This was a fantastic collection of short stories. I absolutely loved it. "
— Abby, 5/7/2012
About Richard Peck
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.
About the Narrators
Erin Bennett is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and a stage actress who played Carlie Roberts in the BBC radio drama Torchwood: Submission. She can be heard on several video games. Regional theater appearances include the Intiman, Pasadena Playhouse, Arizona Theatre Company, A Noise Within, Laguna Playhouse, and the Getty Villa. She trained at Boston University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Lee Samuels (SAG-AFTRA) has lent his deep, “whiskey-smooth” voice to over 200 romance audiobooks; from small-town to suspense, and rom-coms to erotica. With a background in theatre, Lee’s audiobook career began in New York City when his roommate, then working as an audiobook engineer at Recorded Books, offered to help him record a few auditions for her friends’ then-new studio (Brick Shop Audio) in 2011. In his other life, he’s also a New York Times-published writer and author.