Remembering the Good Times

Reader reviewed by Savanna Y

I think that Remembering the Good Times is a good book. It wasnt one of the best books that I have read but it wasnt that bad. Mostly I liked it because it was about kids that are about my age. At the beginning of the book Buck and Travis were almost fighting over Kate. After that they all became friends. When Travis told them he was a hyperactive kid, it shocked Buck. Buck was shocked because Travis was like Skeeter. On the first day their teacher came to school and Skeeter was really mean to her. He pushed her stuff off her table, dumped her purse out, and pulled all of her desk drawers out. Later Travis mom invites Kate and Buck to his housewarming party and he didnt really like that. They planned for Bucks dad to take Kates mom. Later Buck got jealous because Kate and Buck were getting close to each other. When Bucks mom is going to get married and move to Cleveland, Buck moves in with his dad. When they come back to school they were scared because they moved the ninth graders into the high school. Later in the year they all dressed up and Kate was a princess, Buck was like a hunter, and Travis was a werewolf for homecoming. Then Travis went away for the summer and came back buff and tan. When he came back there was so much that had happened and when they told him bout it, it was a lot of stress on him. So then he went and hung himself in their orchard. After that nobody was the same anymore.

Reader reviewed by Jenna P

The book Remembering the Good Times was not what I was expecting it to be. I thought that the author was going to have Trav die in the beginning of the book and tell how Buck and Kate dealt with it. It was quite the opposite, the author, Richard Peck, wrote about all of the events and clues leading up to Travs suicide. Also, Buck and Kate seemed to deal with it all very well, Travs death I mean. I knew that Buck would not show much emotion because he is a guy and guys never like to show emotion, at least not in public. Kate was a total surprise, normally girls more emotion than guys but in this case Kate showed as much, or less emotion as Buck. She just closed herself up in a little shell and held it all in I also thought that Richard Peck should have included Rusty in the story more because she fit in pretty well in the group at least that is what I thought. Plus, if the author had done that then Buck would not have been so and left out when Kate and Trav were together. I also think that Richard Peck could have come up with a more creative way for Trav to commit suicide, call me cynical but everyone knows how to hang themselves. If Trav was such a genius why didnt he come up with a totally unique way of killing himself? Over all, I thought that Remembering the Good Times was a pretty decent book, but I wouldnt recommend it to a friend.

Reader reviewed by Josh.I

Remembering the Good Times
The book Remembering the Good Times is overall a boring book, but it also has depressing parts too. Like when Trav hangs himself, or when Buck has to go spend the summer with his mom half way across the country and leave his friends. The other parts in the book I feel are not really thing that make up a thrilling book. If you like thrilling story that is, and I do I like action material. This book does not really have any action to it. It is more a book for people how like non-action stories.

The books title remembering the good times makes you think the story is going to be a bunch of older people talking about their childhood. Instead of a few young people and one old person are not remembering any good times. They are no living real good times either. I mean Buck lives in a trailer. Kate has no dad and her mom is always out partying till around midnight like every night. So she has to live with her great aunt Polly who is old I mean the 3rd oldest person in their town. One the other hand Trav lives with both parents and has a descent home. He also gets good grades. But he is always worrying about other countries disputes and war and what not.

The only part that I thought was good was when Trav hung him self. It was suspenseful and action filled. Thats what I look for in a story. And if a book only has one good point like that then it is not a very good story.

Reader reviewed by Alyssa K.

The book Remembering the Good Times is a book talking about teenage suicide and other sad tragedies teenagers go through. I think this book was ok, but I dont think I would recommend it to kids 5th grade or younger. One reason is because they are not yet teenager. Little kids dont need to know about suicide. Some kids go through it with their families though. This story is about three teenagers named Buck, Kate, and Trav. At a point in the story they all meet and eventually meet Skeeter. At school one day Skeeter molests Ms. Slater. Kate, at the dance they had at school she called Mr. Slater and he came and beat up Skeeter. He never went to that school again. Before any of that happened, Buck joined the football team. So one day Kate and Trav came and found him playing. Kate yelled and screamed at him, telling him that he didnt even like football anyway. Buck finally said that he would quit. While he was on the team he met a cheerleader named Rusty. She was from California. Later in the story Trav goes through major tragedies and happens to commit suicide. Everybody then becomes sad and miserable, wanting to become Travs best friend. Kate and Buck both were thinking how it would be like without Trav there to play cards with them and Polly. When they have the funeral for Trav at school, a lot of parents and students attend for a little gathering. When that was over Kate and Buck went over to Pollys. They all talked about how much they are going to miss Trav. Then suddenly remember all the good times. All of a sudden they start talking about Polly Prior. Kate says, She may be the third oldest in Slocom Township, but when it comes to meanness shes number one.
Overall I like this book. One thing I didnt like about the book is that it is a sad book, and Im not a big fan of sad books. That is what I thought of the book.

Reader reviewed by Kara T.

These Things happen Every Day, We Just Dont Know about It;
Remembering the Good Times
I thought the book, Remembering the Good Times (RTGT) by Richard Peck was an excellent book. The book was amazing even though Trav commits suicide.
Buck, the main character in this story, meets Kate in an orchard. Kate asks Buck if he wanted to see a foal being born. Next Kate and Buck went to watch the foal be born, the vet. did not seem to mind that they were there though. After that Buck thought he would never see Kate again.
Later in the day Buck was helping Irene and Scotty pick tomatoes. Irene asked buck to bring some to Mrs. Prior down the road. While he was down there, Mrs. Prior, Kates great aunt told him that she was too mean to die.
Buck had to go back to Farnham to live with his mother when Fred Wundrelich told him that they were moving to Cleveland. Buck argued his way into living with his father in Slocum.
When Buck and Kate go to school they meet Trav. Skeeter, the bully always goes wild at the new and weak teachers. After Skeeter sits down from attacking Mrs. Slater, Trav goes over, calmly lays his hands on Skeeters and everyone is calm for the rest of the period, until the bell rings.
Around Christmas Kate and Buck get invited to Travs parents Christmas Party. While at the party Trav gives Kate and Buck a tour of his house. When they get to his room they were expecting High-Tec stuff and computers. When they got inside the door it was full of toys.
I guess we all should have known when Trav was going to kill himself. Trav had given Kate his Teddy Bear and Buck his calculator. The next day Bucks dad was going to work on Pollys orchard, which she sold. They found Trav in a little clearing with a rope around his neck, and the other end tied to a tree. Trav had hanged himself. I think he did it because he was pushing on himself so much. It was self pressure; he thought he had push himself so hard for his parents to except him. There was no funeral for Trav, but there was a little meeting for the people who wanted to go, just for people to stop worrying. He is in a better place now.

Reader reviewed by Gage M

My review of this book is that it was okay. I started reading this book expecting it to be heavily laden with sorry and anguish. Instead, it was happy, about the good times as the title implies. It was a very boring read for me because I am used to fast paced reading; but this was a slow read. This book seemed to crawl along, get to an interesting part, and then die out.

I do not believe that the book could have been any better for me because I enjoy books with action. This book lacks action, which made it an almost torturous read for me.

The main fault to me is the books length. It seems that it could have been either shorter or longer. The author metaphorically dragged the book through the mud to add pages. While at the same time it could have been longer, adding chapters after Springtime; which abruptly ended.

The saddest part of this story is when Travis took his life and left behind friends who did not know how to deal with it. I can remotely understand why he would do this. He knows about conflicts in the world that the people around him are oblivious too, and that annoys him to no end. He also felt pressured by his parents, yet babied at school. But still, nothing is impossible, and I believe that he should have hung on to his life, for he had a lot to live for, and lots to give to the world.

All in all this was a good book, but it just was not meant for me. I am sure that there are people out there who absolutely love this book, but sadly, I do not.

All these are my reasons for giving this a rating of 3. It has good concept and is realistic; but it was not my kind of book.

Reader reviewed by Taylor K

In the book Remembering the Good Times Buck, Kate, and Travis all become great friends. When Buck comes back from his summer vacation in Cleveland with his mom and his step-dad. But when he gets back he notices some changes. First he noticed that Kate has changed from a tom-boy to a girly-girl. Second, he notices or was told that there was no more JHS it was now split up into a middle school and a high school, and he hates changes. Third and last he noticed that Kate and Travis got closer then before. At the end of the book something tragic happened, but youre going to have to read the book to find out what happened because I dont want to ruin it.
To me I loved it! But at the beginning I thought it was retarded, but by the time we got half way I was starting to change my mind slowly. It finally hit me that this book reminds me of someones life. That persons life it reminds me of is mine. Not all of the parts in the book reminds me of my life but yet some of them is exactly what does remind me of my life. Another person that might enjoy it is my sister Jordan. Actually she loves reading. She said that she would read it because it looks interesting and plus Ive told her all about it but I told her the interesting parts not the kind of boring parts. So thtas my sisters and I opinion on the book

Reader reviewed by Shayli K

In the book Remembering the Good Time there are many adventures that go on with the main characters, Buck, Kate and Trav. You will find many ups and downs between these close friends but when one starts to feel left out he starts doing his own thing. Also you will find out how one of the friends deals with the stress with school and at home.

It all starts with Buck finding out hat his mom is getting married and moving to Cleveland. After Buck finds this out he goes and lives with his dad permanently. When he moves he meets Kate and Trav. They become really good friends. They would always be playing cards with Polly, Kates grandma. The three were inseparable. But after one summer Buck stays with his mom in Cleveland. When he gets back he finds out that Trav and Kate have been spending a lot of time together. Well Buck didnt like that and thought that he was becoming a third leg. A few months later some things happen in the story that is tragic to even people that dont know Kate, Buck and Trav. So read this book and find out what happens.

I thought this book was pretty boring up until the last four chapters. I was confused and lost some of the time, but overall I thought that this book was pretty good and I was glad that we were able to read it in school. This book teaches a lesson and I think that everyone should read it. You find out that when you do something to yourself you probably hurt you friends and family more than yourself. So read RTGT and find out what happens.

Reader reviewed by Huxley K

Remembering the Good Times

Remembering the good times is a book about these three kids who are friends. Personally I did not like the book remembering the good times. I dont know why I dont like the book but I guess it is because all of the dying. Like Travis had a good life and he just tack it away. Some of the good things were his friends a good family he was in a lot of advanced classes. Then he went and killed himself in the orchard by hanging himself in one of the trees.

Another reason is Skeeter the bully went and took bucks dad hard hat from there yard. And he was being mean to a new teacher Mrs. Slater by talking back to he rand taking his enormous arm and knocking all the stuff of her desk. Then at the homecoming dance Skeeter was smoking a cigarette right at school. Kate had called Mr. Slater and mad a plan to beat Skeeter up after the dance. So Kate went and bribed him to come with them and a little way down the road a car pulled up and Mr. Slater jumped out and stated to beat up Skeeter and when he was done he asked the three of them if they needed a ride home like nothing happened. Lastly at a gas station a robber broke in and shot Scotty and he died at the hospital later on. So that is why I did not like the book.

Reader reviewed by Brooklyn V.

Remembering the Good Times was an assigned reading in our Language Arts class. I must be completely honest, at first I really thought this book would be quite boring and dull; but like so many times before I was wrong. Although the first few chapters where kind of boring so I must encourage you to get through the first three or four chapters before putting this book back on the shelf. Also I must warn you that if your not comfortable with reading about death like some of my class mates you might want to read something else because there is quite a lot about this sore subject.
I truly hope this will not turn you off of this book because the author, Richard Peck creates such vivid characters in the readers mind. You almost fell like your right there with Buck Mendenhall and his friends and family. Buck is the main character of Remembering the Good Times. In the beginning of this book Buck has just moved to a new town and will soon be starting a new school which he is very worried about; but before he goes to school he meets a lovely girl named Kate. A few grades later and they meet a new friend, soon to be a best friend, Trav. Trav is a rich kid who seems to have it all, a loving family, a big house, handsome looks, and great grades. Even though it looks like Trav has it all theirs something wrong, but Buck and Kate just dont see all the signs until its too late to help their very best friend. Well I hope you enjoy this book, its a winner!