Remembering the Good Times

Reader reviewed by GageJ

Remembering the Good Times Critique

I thought that Remembering the Good Times was overall a good book. I liked the characters that Richard Peck created because they are easy to relate to. I didnt like the fact that the author had Trav kill himself though. He had many benefits from being smart and could have grown up to be really successful. Trav had good friends that cared about him and he really hurt them by committing suicide. I liked Bucks character because he is determined, like when he didnt give up trying to get his dads construction hat back from Skeeter. I thought it was horrible the way that Kate had decided to get back at Skeeter for harassing Ms. Slater. I didnt think that Kate would do something like that because she was always trying not to start things and didnt like violence. Trav also didnt like violence so he was mad at Kate when she did that and said that he deserved it. Trav wanted to go back and help Skeeter even though he was a menace and a jerk to everyone. Trav always knew the right things to do and thats why he made a good character. Buck was didnt really ever know to take Trav or Kates side in the conflicts because he didnt want anyone to be mad at him. I thought that this was a great book and it teaches us about how some people deal with things when something bad happens in their lives and how to think back and remember the good times.

Reader reviewed by Megan K

Remembering the Good Times was an enjoyable book to read. It not only caught my attention, but wanted me reading ahead. It was great at making interesting details throughout the book. There are many sad things that happen in this story, but it helps the reading flow along. This book tells about good times and bad times. It makes you remember the good and bad times of your life to. Some of the items in this book you can relate to with your own personal experiences. A close friend leaving, new friends coming into your life, and hard times that make your friendships come closer together.

If you pick up this book you will have it done in no time because it's easy to follow along with. Plus, it isn't to terribly long either. There are reasons for picking up this book, it has an interesting cover, the back description grabs your attention, and it's about normal day to day lives. It's not just for teenagers, or young adults. Teachers, grandparents, parents, and others will have a wonderful time with the adventure of Kate, Buck, Trav, and especially Polly. Polly is the character in the story that pulls the story together. She will know when one of the friends is having a rough time, or needs some advice. Even though she's old she is smarter than most people in her town. She knows when something is up. She'll probably be one of your favorite characters.

In the story you will notice that the three friends have a place where they can think and just hang out. It is in Kate's backyard in an orchard. Kate, Buck, and Trav are all connected to the orchard. It has a special meaning to them. Once you read the book you will know what each one has that connects them to the orchard. As usual the orchard doesn't bring all happy memories back.

Remembering the Good Times also faces Buck with some hard decisions. Should he move with his mom and new step-dad, or should he stay with his dad where all his friends are? In the end Buck makes the choice that makes the most sense, but it is difficult without both your parents living in the same state as you. Luckily Buck has Kate and Trav to help him through this rough patch.

I hope that after reading this you won't wait to read this wonderful book. This book is great. It teaches to be thankful for the great friends and family that you have to cherish every moment that you have with them because you never know when something could go wrong. Remember there are always going to be good and bad things in your life.

Reader reviewed by Sam






Remembering the Good Times from Richard Peck was in overall in my opinion a good book and for a lot of reasons in it. It was good because the author described many things within the book with an enormous amount of detail in everything the book talked about. The book described clearly what Buck felt about things and why. For instance the book said that Buck felt very angry that Skeeter took his fathers helmet of their yard. It was no accident either, and he wanted Buck to see so they would fight later. It also shows things about Buck that he not really at all Slo or Sub, while his friend Kate is a hard-core Slo and Trav a basic Sub. Skeeter noticed that and picked on Buck on that time even though he was a problem for other people so the book made sense why he picked on Buck. Also the Book made it obvious that there was something always going on all the time whenever it was school or friends.

For instance Buck hated change wishing that everything would stay the same forever, like good times and not always ready what was coming next. Or it was usually between friends where Buck would feel jealous or left out, that being because Kate and Trav were a couple, despite that they were still friends and went through a lot of stuff together. So to add it all together it was fun to read because it showed how things change even, though Buck did not like showing that thing are always changing and that you have to change with it. However when Trav committed suicide I didnt like that everyone in the school acted that he was their friend all along.

Reader reviewed by Zac B.

Remembering the Good Times
BY: Zac Bublitz

Personally, I didnt care for Remembering the Good Times, because I kept on getting lost. The story was okay in some parts, but most parts werent the greatest. I thought it was confusing how he made Trav come into the sceen when Skeeter was being disruptive and he had Trav calm down Skeeter. Then just have Trav walk right out of the room! I also disliked how he had the party and he had Trav show the guests his childish bedroom.
The thing that I liked about the book is that it is similar to the book Twilight, because its about a girl named Bella who moves in with her dad. The reason why she moves in with her dad is because her mom gets remarried to a man and then move to Florida. The only difference so far that I know about is that nobody dies.
Otherwise I would never recommend this book to anyone that I know. I also think that they should not have students reading about the book. My final thought is that I dont think that Miss Osborne should have given away the part that Trav died before we started to read the book.

Reader reviewed by Lisa

Remembering the Good Times by Richard Peck was an interesting book but held the truths for people in the real world. This story told about kids who had to face challenges through life, such as bullies, different living conditions, and knowing you dont always know what your friends are going through.

In the book, Buck, Kate, and Trav meet in each other in the eighth grade and get to know each other in the eighth grade. Trav, now is a very wealthy, worried, brilliant young man that is very stressed with things happening in the world, mainly in Middle America.

As the trio comes close together, they begin to try to stay close together even more than before though, Buck goes away the summer after eighth grade and comes back to find a lot of change, which he doesnt like. He finds that he, himself has changed over that times as well and tells Kate, that they should promise not to change.

Later, Trav and Kate become kind of popular as they become more active through the school. Trave becomes in more electives, Buck begins a job outside of school and Kate trys out for a play with a poem Trav wrote,
The days of winter enter in
The darkness nibbles at the days,
The heavy clouds pull down the sky,
The deep snowfall strays and grays.

Too long to wait for springtime now
Here in this cold and darkening room,
Only time for remembering
The pear trees in bloom.

After that Trav starts throwing signs of distress, for example, Trav and Buck were watching Kate rehearsing and Buck says something like, When shes famous, we can say we knew her first. Later he gives some of his possessions away like a lilly to Polly, a bear to Kate, and a calculator to Buck.

Then when Buck and Kate go to school Trav hangs himself in the orchards and Buck and Kate are in some what of a schock and dont believe it.

The school board has a program for the community about Trav and Kate and Buck grieve it out during that time knowing how Trave would never come back again.

Those are some of the main reasons why Remembering the Good Times is an interesting book.

Reader reviewed by frankie

In Remembering the Good Times, you start at Bucks dads house because his parents are divorced and he lives with his mom on week days and with his father on week ends. When he goes to stay with his dad trailer, he meets a girl in an orchard and her name is Kate. She is a tom girl, one of the main characters, Buck and Kate and the main characters name is Buck and later in the book they become really good friends Kate lives with her mom and her grandma in a old farm house buck dad lives in a trailer in the back of a gas station called the sonoco and then he moves in with his dad for good and his mom marries a man named Mr. Wonderlick and they move to Atlanta and the summer after a kid named Trav moves to Bucks town he goes to live with his mom and step dad in Atlanta and then he comes back when it is time to go to school. Buck finds out that Trav and Kate have been hanging out together a lot while he was gone.

Reader reviewed by eli p

In Remembering the Good Times, by Richard Peck, it seemed to have a lot of ups and downs in my opinion upon reading the book. By ups and downs I mean that theyre were a lot of good and bad times. Also in Remembering the Good Times, there seemed to be four different good life features presented, making friends, keeping friends, helping friends and also unfortunately, losing friends. An example of making friends was when Buck and Kate first me each other in the beginning of the book. A really touching part of the story for me is when we figure out that Kate, Buck, and Trav are all considered outcasts by society and they all know it but they also know that they dont need anything but friendship to get by in life. That is pretty much the main theme of the book that really intrigued me and made me keep on reading it.

A few more points in the story have to do with helping your friends and that is easily recognized in this book by seeing how Buck helps Kate and Kate helps Trav and all the way around to everybody helping everybody. This just goes to show that they wont be knocked around by the average stereotypes of society. One last point I would like to show you in the story is dealing with losing friends. I wont spoil it for you but let me tell you what all this means. It is that this story touches on a very very touchy subject, suicide, and let me tell you from experience, it is not easy dealing with a suicide in real life and in this story it shows that suicide does hurt the people that are left behind and that it is a good reason to like this book. It puts real life experiences into a fictional story.

Reader reviewed by Megan R

In the book Remembering the Good Times, Buck, Kate, and Trav are the main characters. They like to spend time together at Kates house and play cards with Polly, Kates great grandma. Then Trav starts acting kind of funny. He starts shoplifting and getting struggled that his classes arent challenging enough. One day Trav bring gifts to Kate, Buck, and Polly, goodbye gifts, they just dont know it. Then a few days later, workers who bought the orchard from Polly find him in a clearing of the orchard, dead. Trav had hung himself. He had gotten a little overwhelmed and thought it was necessary to kill himself. And thats mainly how the book turns out. Trav upsets everyone about killing himself, especially the people at school, they cant stop talking about him. They all feel really bad for his parents too.
Ill be completely honest, this book was boring. Im glad were done reading it, so I will actually have time to read my book. This book was boring because, well other than a few different things happening here and there, it was practically the same thing throughout the entire book. Playing cards at Kates house, school registration, I mean come on, I think we got it the first time! And whenever there is an exciting part, it cuts off! It doesnt even explain further on the topic, it just leaves us hanging! You never really find out what happens to Skeeter after Mr. Slater beats him up, you know he leaves, and that hes back at school later, but did he get hurt? Did he tell someone? Did he threaten anybody about it? What happened? We dont know! Another one, we never really find out who destroyed Ms. Slaters car, or what they do about it, they infer it, but we never really know what exactly happened. I honestly think we could have had a better book. I would recommend it to older people who have a lot of free time, or people who like reading about suicide.

Reader reviewed by Kyle J.

Remembering the good times is good book the main characters is Kate, Buck, Travis, and Polly. I thought it was a good book at the middle and end and the beginning was the worst I ever saw in a long time, because it skipped around a lot and I felt lost when reading the book. When Buck went with his mom for the summer and when he got back he found Kate and Travis hanging around each other more often and became close over the summer. Then the pear orchard got sold and Kate was really mad and it got bulldozed.
Every day after school Buck was working at the gas station and pumping gas and washing windshields. I thought the end was ok and the middle was pretty good and it had good setting and good mood and it was kind of boring. Polly was a old person and she was good at playing games. The story as kind was kind of sad and gloomy. I hate when people die in real life and I dont like going to funerals they are boring. I like reading at a slow pace but not at a fast pace because when I read fast I get lost and miss some of the story. I dont like how on the back of the book that when it says what is going to happen in the book, it gives some of the clues away. But then I like reading the back of it because it gives some information.

Reader reviewed by BrittanyS


The book Remembering the Good Times in my point of view was an okay book. It was about three teenagers whose names are Travis, Buck and Kate. Travis was wealthier and his parents are sort of strict. Buck lives with his dad full time in a trailer house because his mom leaves with her new husband in Cleveland. Kate lives with her mom and her grandmother Polly who has pretty much raised her, because her mom is always gone. Some of the parts I liked are when they all meet before they started eighth grade. Another part I like was when Travis had the Christmas party and Kates mom went with Bucks dad. And mostly everybody and the party didnt like Kates mom because she was a little wild. There were also some parts that were boring to me for example in parts when they are just playing cards with Polly. I think that Polly is a loving kind grandmother to Kate. She makes the book funny when she says that she is the meanest person in Slocum (Slocum is the Town they live in).Another person that is in the book is Skeeter is the bully he picks on teachers and students. The Characters I probably like the most is Kate because she reminds me of myself because she is so opinionated. For example when she tells buck that he stinks when he was in football. My over all rating of this book would be alright.