Remembering the Good Times

Reader reviewed by Brittney M.

I didnt really like and understand the Remembering The Good Times. I mean that it was an ok book but it didnt make that much sense. I felt that the author took a while to get to the main point and I still do not know what the main point is! I think I might have an idea what the main point is. I think the main point is to not to kill yourself no matter what because someone will and does care about you, and they would be sad if you were gone. Also, maybe another point is that if you did want to kill yourself all of you friends would miss you a lot.
Like I said before it was confusing! What I mean is it took the author a while to explain things that the characters were doing. Then when he did finally explain, the characters were doing something else. Then the process starts again! Also, its confusing by all the surroundings. I didnt really like it because it was not a happy book! I like happy books and this one was kind of depressing with Trav killing himself and all. Then another sad part was when Mr. Kirby (Travs father) says that he is no longer a father/parent.
After that Polly says some nice words but its sad the rest of the book. Those are most of the reasons why others and I really dislike this book. Some other reasons I do like this book is that it tells a story about friendship and it is a little happier in the beginning but gets sadder as you go on. This book is to sad to read in a school classroom.

Reader reviewed by Shay D

Remembering the Good Times

This is a touching and meaningful book story of three friends- Kate, Buck, and Trav. They share a bond like no other. Everything is going jolly in Kates and Bucks minds, but, for Trav, it is different.
Maybe he felt like life was not going anywhere for him or he was not worth living. I think that he has it all going for him; he just did not know how to do more for others and himself.
Many kids and adults every day commit suicide every year. Something is wrong with their life and they dont know how to deal with it.
I quote from the book- & suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. &one suicide can lead to more.
Why is that? Maybe more people think that since another person ended their problems easily, they can too. Then, after awhile, more and more people commit suicide. It really is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. So why would someone end their life? All problems evolve eventually, but once you are dead, you are dead for good. You hurt everyone who ever cared about you and you influence other to take their lives as well.
I think that anyone who loves a true reality story about real life situations should read this book. Also if you are thinking of taking your life, you should read this to realize how it would impact people who care about you. Maybe you would realize that more people care about you than you think.
I believe that suicide is not the option and I wish I could do something to help those who feel it is their only option.

Reader reviewed by Ben H.

I disliked Remembering the Good Times for three reasons. One reason I disliked Remembering the Good Times because it was too sad. The second reason I disliked the book was because it was too confusing. The third reason I disliked it was because it dealt to much with Buck and not quite enough about everyone else.
First I thought it was too sad because not only did Travis commit suicide, but Scotty was shot during a robbery. Travis hung himself in a clearing in an orchard, one of Kates most favorite spots to relax. Also I thought it was sad because not even the school administrators, the assistant principal, or the principal cared much about the death of Travis Kirby. For this reason Mr. Kirby resigned from being president of the school.
Second I thought that the book was too confusing. One way Remembering the Good Times was confusing was because nobody really knows why Travis would hang himself in the first place. Another way the book was confusing was because nobody really knows why Travis would steal little kid toys from a store.
Third the book talked to much about Buck and not enough about everybody else. One way I thought the book talked too much about Buck was because the book told of what he did over the summer and not a lot about what Kate and Travis did over the summer. Secondly the book told about working and nothing about Kate and Travis working. Lastly the book talked about what Buck would usually do for fun, but wouldnt talk much about what Polly did for fun.

Reader reviewed by Maddie S

Remembering the Good Times was an o.k. book, I probably wouldnt have picked it myself but it was pretty good. I didnt really understand the beginning because it was very long and confusing. I felt the author took to long to explain things in the book. This book did have a good lesson though, it taught me that you never can assume that some ones life is going good, it could be crazy and no one would ever know. I think that Trav killing himself was a little dramatic for his situation and that if maybe his problem was more serious it would have made a lot more sense for him to kill himself. Also I did not understand why Skeeter was in this book, I know he was the bully but really he didnt have any importance to this book. Remembering the Good Times was very confusing in parts some examples are Buck going to Cleveland to see his mom I really didnt see why the other made him to there. Another reason is Kates mom, Janis and Bucks dad going to the house warming party at Travs home was a little weird because that really was never brought up again so I didnt understand why the author put it in the book. But I also enjoyed this book towards the end my favorite chapters were, chapters 15 and springtime, I liked these because Kate and Buck seemed happier about the situation and how they could talk about Trav and understand why it happened the way it did. I thought it was very nice that Kate and Buck remembered Travs poem he wrote. I loved that the could remember the good times and be happy.

Reader reviewed by Taylor S

Remembering the Good Times Critique

I liked and disliked the book Remembering the Good Times because it reminds me of me and my friends and how things can turn around so quickly. But I didnt like the part were Tray hung himself. I think he should have died in a different like in a car accident or someone else shot him. A good part of the book that I liked and was interested in is how jealous Buck was between Kate and Trav. I think they should have gone out because then buck might have actually stayed in football. He also might have been as popular as Kate and Trav were.
I think Polly was a really interesting person because not many people in the world are quite like her. I liked her because shes old, loves playing games, is funny and very sarcastic, and she is pretty bossy and mean. I also extremely liked the character Tray because he is really smart but is so depressed because he thinks hes is not smart enough, and that is not like most people. When he dies in the story its like the climax of the story and it was something that really caught my attention. But the only reason I liked and dislike about that is everyone like him and everyone said that they knew him when they didnt and that just not right.
So that is the explanation for why I liked and disliked the book Remembering the Good Times

Reader reviewed by Rianna L

Remembering the Good times Critique

This is a book about three friends. During the story, one of the friends is kind of messed up in the head and decides to hang himself.
I think that there was no point in reading this book. I dont see why our teacher made us read a book about a kid who kills himself! What if reading this book made a student want to kill or hurt themselves?
Also, it is extremely emotional because a lot of my friends and I had a friend that died in forth grade. His birthday was on Halloween, which is the day she gave us this book which was surprisingly sad and made some of my friends cry.
This book was boring, had no point, and did not keep my interest whatsoever. It was lame and did not grab my attention. It was a bummer that I was forced to read it because I didnt enjoy this book at all.
I dont think we shouldve had to read this book for many reasons. One is that the beginning was not good at all. I think the author didnt emphasize the main idea until after the middle of the book. Nothing excited me, not even the suicide part, it just made me depressed. No one wants to read about a messed up kid unless its a comedy, and I wouldnt think that any one would want to write about it either.
Another bad feature of this book was the part when Mr. Slater beat up Skeeter. I mean seriously, a middle aged man, rather large, beats up a student in high school. That is so messed up!
Finally, we should have not had to read this book, it was a bad choice.

Reader reviewed by Dan M.

The book Remembering the Good Times is a depressing story about a teenage suicide. This book has some good times and bad/boring times. Buck is a sixteen-year-old boy who tells about his younger childhood about his three best friends Kate, Polly, and Trav. Buck first meets Kate in an orchard owned by Polly which happens to be the third oldest person in Slocum. Polly is a mean, old, grouchy lady in Slocum Township. In 7th grade they meet Trav a smart boy who is very smart in academics and is concerned in world situations. This group would be close sharing the good and bad times. Polly, Kate, Buck, and Trav would all play games on the card table theyd set up especially for Polly since she always sat in a wheel chair. This group will have memories from a play to fights and directing musicals to summer vacations. During school some changes happened to the trio (Buck, Trav, and Kate) like the change to junior high school to a middle school. Now in high-school they have four grades instead of three grades. Buck always hated changes and thought that they should never change because he always liked the way things were. Suddenly when Trav comes back he gives everybody presents, but hes really changed and that change would corrupt the group forever. I have enjoyed this book and I thought it would end differently then it actually did. Once or twice this book touched me because I have had a friend who died, but he did not take his own life on purpose.

Reader reviewed by Domanic H


We read Remembering the Good Times a book about someone who takes their own life because they had a problem that they couldnt figure it out. I thought this book would be boring and it kind of was until the part where Trav dies. The story starts out telling how Kate, Buck, and Trav meet when Skeeter blew up in class by yelling at Mrs. Slater and Trav just goes up to Skeeter and puts his hands on his and Skeeter calmed down. After school they would always hang out unless someone had to do something and then the others hung out. After school and sometimes on weekends they would go to Kates house and play card games with Polly, who is Kates aunt the third oldest person in Slocum.
When the dance came Polly helped Kate, Buck, and Trav find costumes for the dance. After the dance, Kate does up to Skeeter and they go for a walk and then a car stops and someone gets out and starts beating Skeeter up. Kate says she had a plan to get back at Skeeter by telling Mr. Slater how Skeeter is sexually abusing his wife. Skeeter never came back to Slocum school. Later on in the book, some people rob the gas station where Buck works and someone ends up killing Scotty. Trav gets in trouble for steeling toys and gets sent to his cousins farm for the summer and when he gets back he looks buff. Now to get to the part where Trav commits suicide. In school, Kate and Buck get told they both need to go to Kates house fast, when they got there they where told Trav committed suicide in the orchard. That is what I think of the book Remembering the Good Times.

Reader reviewed by Taylor R.

We read the book Remembering the Good Times, by Richard Peck. I thought it would be a sad, boring book with kids that dont have any control over their lives; so I was debating to read it. The book started off ok it was sort of cute how Buck and Kate met but them both coming from completely different lives. I couldnt imagine them being friends for long. Later they started school and they meet up again. This time they meet a guy named Trav(is) Kirby. He was completely different than both of Buck and Kate.
Now they were all tight. I still couldnt believe that they all could be friends. Buck comes from a divorced family and lives with his dad in a tiny trailer house. Kate, who lives in a nice medium size house with her mom and her great aunt, Polly. Polly was the third oldest woman in Solcum Township. Kates mom is one who is never home and she has boyfriends galore! And Trav was part of one of the richest families in Solcum Township.
Anyways, they have many fun events in their lives and then Trav is one of those over achievers. Soon the thing that was hard for me was when Trav committed suicide. I had no clue that he would be the one. He had a great life a head of him. This was very hard for Buck and Kate. I have gone through something like that when I was in fourth grade. It is very difficult but Buck and Kate took the event very well until the end, they really didnt know what to feel.

Reader reviewed by Mariah H.

Remembering the Good Times

We read the book Remembering the Good Times by Richard Peck in our langue arts class this year. I dislike this book but also I liked it at the same time. I liked the book because it was very inspiring. This book inspired me to be happy with the life I have and that you should take things to serious because not all the time its going to work out. I liked it because it took three different personalities of people and put them together as friends. I liked that because it shows that you can be friends with anybody and you dont have to just be friends with the people who have the same amount of money as you or like the same things as you.
But mostly I disliked this book because I didnt like how the story went along. I didnt like how Kate got put into her family. How she had all the responsibilities around the house and had to take care of her great-grandma and her mom and herself all at the same time. Her mom was never home and when she was she was to busy with herself to talk to Kate or help around the house. I also didnt like how in the story Skeeter, the troublemaker was always getting into trouble and nobody tried to stop him. If there was a Skeeter in my classes I would be so mad because I dont like when people act like that. But the part that I mostly didnt like in the story was when Scotty died in the murder and then Travis committed suicide. I dont think that Travis should have died. He had such a good life ahead of him but he just couldnt handle all the pressure that he was putting on himself. All in all I think it was a very good book to read.