Newbery Award winning author, Richard Peck starts his latest book The Best Man at one wedding and ends it with another. Narrated by Archer, who was six years old and the reluctant ring bearer at the opening wedding, the story continues until he is in the sixth grade. The events of that take place at that opening wedding are equal to another very funny story also told by a boy* and will have you laughing with tears running from your eyes as one mishap after another happens. Fortunately for Archer the rest of his story runs more smoothly.
Aside from getting off to a funny start this is a story that has the elements of several stories. It’s a family story about the men Archer wants to be like when he grows up; his grandfather, a great architect; his dad, a great remodeler of cars; and his uncle Paul, who is just plain great. It’s a school story since so much of the action takes place at school and that is the spot where we meet one of the important characters, Mr. McLeod, the student teacher for Archer’s fifth-grade class. There’s also a touch of romance, a bully or two and a lot of growing up that takes place on these pages in this easy to read very enjoyable novel for grades 5-8.
*The funny book referred to here is Harris and Me by Gary
Paulsen. If you like to laugh and have missed this one, get yourself to the library
immediately and check it out, along with a copy of The Best Man, of course.
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