Remembering the Good Times

Reader reviewed by nathan k

Personally I did not like Remembering the Good Times, because it did not hold my attention and it was boring. It did not hold my attention because parts of it were cheesy and some did not make sense at all. And it kept talking about how Buck wanted to go out with Kate, but he never tried to do anything to get her to go out with him. Now do not get me wrong, it was a good book just not for me.
Remembering the Good Times is about a group of three friends who meet in a town called Slocum. The three friends names were Kate, Buck Mendenhall, the narrator, and Travis Kirby. Travis or Trav for short is one of those people who strive for perfection. Buck Mendenhall lives with his dad in Slocum. He and his dad live in a trailer home in the back of the towns small gas station which is run by Irene and Scotty. Kate is a girl who Buck meets while running through Polly Priors pear orchard. When they meet Kate asks Buck if he wants to see a baby horse being born. Buck says sure and they go see it being born.
Then, when the school year starts, they meet someone else. Travis Kirby. After that they kept hanging out everyday and their friendship kept growing. Finally they started playing card games and board games like Monopoly with Polly Prior. After about two years something tragic happens that could tear their friendship apart.

Reader reviewed by Makaygan P.

This story, Remembering the good times, was boring and interesting at times. Sometimes the book did not make any sense to me. To me they should have used characters that were like us and used a whole different time period so we could relate to it more. I did like it at times because it taught you what other kids go through that have lost their friends. The message of the story to me was that no matter how much you think you know someone you dont actually know what they will do. This story showed all the signs people should have seen but didnt. When people blame their selves for other peoples actions is what I didnt like. Their were a lot of things people could have done to prevent this. Examples would be his friends could have been their more for him, his parents should not have put so much tress on him, and the school should have had more educated classes for those who wanted them. Buck mendenhall and Kates characters could have been in more detail and went through their personal life too. Travs character was displayed very nicely. I thought it gave a vivid picture and brief details on what hes like and his life. The fact that Trav actually died I did not like either. In my opinion, the writer of the story should have portrayed it where he tried to kill himself but didnt succeed in. Also I didnt like that everyone thought it was other peoples fault. It was no ones fault. No one could have stopped this. But I also thought it was interesting because it shows the emotions and the hardships kids have to pass when one of their close friends died. On a five-star scale I would have given this book a 3 because it gave great details but could have had more interesting parts.

Reader reviewed by justin h

Remembering the Good Times is the title of this book. I really do not like this book al all. I guess that is just my opinion, I hated the book. I just dont like the feeling of people killing them selves. Most of the book never caught my interest. The only reason I am reading this book is because I have to for school. But in a sense I am glad that the teacher made us read this book because any one can really learn a lesson about this book. The lessons that this book teaches us is that friendship is very important to everyone. I dont think that any one can survive with out friendship. Honestly I absolutely did not like this book, but any one of you might like this book just is not my kind of book. I am into more of like hunting and adventure and sports books. If you are the kind of person that likes strange friendship books and total drama and all of that stuff then this definitely the book for you. I also hate how Kate is so possessive and makes buck like quit the football team. She practically pulled buck off of the field. I also dont like when Travis kills himself that they dont even have a funnel for him in the sane town. His parents hold the funnel in a way far away place where he liver previously. But one of the few parts about the book is Rusty Hazelfield. I like her because she has a mind of her own. She also dresses strange and funny

Reader reviewed by Alan H

I disliked the book remembering the good times because I couldnt get into the book. It would have been better if the friends would have more arguments and a fight about who has a better grade or who has a better life like Trav did. The beginning of the story wasnt very interesting either. It could have started out at a school or a gas station. A good example would be that buck was walking threw school not paying attention to what he was doing and knocked all her books down and then went to pick them up and she asked to be friends or he could have saw her walk by a gas station and ask if she wanted a coke. I think that would be a good intro.

The only thing I liked about the book was the two deaths of Scotty and Trav. Trav suicide because he didnt think everything in the world he did for his parents was perfect so he hung himself and Scotty was killed in a robbery at the Sunoco gas station. And another thing I liked about the book was the costumes Trav, Kate, and Buck wore to the dance. Trav wore a solider costume. Kate wore a faded pink dress and buck wore a raccoon jacket that was really old because it was missing patches of fur. The last thing I liked about the book is when buck fights Skeeter just to get his dads work hat back and he does.

Reader reviewed by taylor l

I didnt like Remembering the good times because of many reasons. A few reasons why I didnt like it are, one is that it wasnt very original. Another reason why I didnt like was because why did Travis have to die? Why couldnt it be a happy story instead of a murderous killing story? One more reason for me hating the book remembering the good times is that they could have described the story a little bit better and mad it a little longer than what it originally was. But not everything in remembering the good times I hated. One example in the story is, the activities we did in the group, like one specific project we did which was showing examples of Kates family.

Some more reasons why I didnt like the book are that there was not any picture in it. The pictures do give a good description and if a person cant visualize the event happening in the story then how are the people suppose to get remembering the good times? A few more reasons why the book wasnt the worst and they are, every now and then the book would actually give enough detail about something. An example of the book was when the narrator was describing Pollys room to the people and the costumes that Travis, Kate, and buck wore on Halloween. All in all the book was sort of enjoyable you could get into the story and visualize a few things and details. If I had to recommend the book Remembering the good times I would say it would be an alright book for someone to be doing on there free time or as a graded free reading book.

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 Mike

Michael Maness
I thought that remembering the good times was a very very boring book. It did go into very very good detail. It had a point about what some kids are doing these days and sometimes back when people thought they were safe from things. Some kids are committing suicide others are just dealing with the pressure. The kids that are committing suicide are being under pressure from families and friends. But the number one reason kids are committing suicide is pressure from school. An example of pressure from home from the book is that Trav has to act perfect for his parents. There isnt much that the school can do but not have hard enough class for the students that want a challenge. The book was a little dull because it just mainly didnt have a lot of action. The characters were a little dull. The main character Buck was a little dull because he didnt talk a lot it was mainly about him narrating the story. Kate was a little more talkative and cute. I liked Kate the best in the book, but she was a little plain. I could identify with Trav because he didnt mind homework and he looked at things differently.
I really didnt like the topic of the book. It was a downer. I know kids need to know about this subject but maybe learning about it a different way would be better.
M Mi
I thought that remembering the good times was a very very boring book. It did go into very very good detail. It had a point about what some kids are doing these days and sometimes back when people thought they were safe from things. Some kids are committing suicide others are just dealing with the pressure. The kids that are committing suicide are being under pressure from families and friends. But the number one reason kids are committing suicide is pressure from school. An example of pressure from home from the book is that Trav has to act perfect for his parents. There isnt much that the school can do but not have hard enough class for the students that want a challenge. The book was a little dull because it just mainly didnt have a lot of action. The characters were a little dull. The main character Buck was a little dull because he didnt talk a lot it was mainly about him narrating the story. Kate was a little more talkative and cute. I liked Kate the best in the book, but she was a little plain. I could identify with Trav because he didnt mind homework and he looked at things differently.
I really didnt like the topic of the book. It was a downer. I know kids need to know about this subject but maybe learning about it a different way would be better.

Reader reviewed by Lynne H

Remembering the Good Times was a very interesting book. I liked this book because it kind of reminds us kids that there is suicide in our school if you know it or not. This book was about three kids Kate, Buck, and Travis. Kate is a good looking girl; she lives with her great grandmother Polly, and her mom. Bucks parents got a divorce and he lives with his dad since his mom moved to live with her new husband. Travis on the other hand lives with his mom and dad and is loved by everyone. But Travis is all ways worrying about everything. Like getting ready for school and everything that is happening in the world. But then finally Travis goes off the deep end and commits suicide. Before Travis commits suicide he leaves a bunch of signs that he need some one to help him through his times. For example Travis goes and steals something from a store and I believe that this is a sign for help. Then that summer he goes and works on a farm before there sophomore year of school. When he comes back with the next day being the first day of school he is laid back not a tense as every other year. And he gives Kate his old teddy bear and gives Buck his old calculator that he kept with him all the time. But he gives Polly a new perfume bottle. Then the next day he is found in the orchard were he committed suicide. This affected everyone in the school even if they didnt know him. I think everyone should be aware that this same kind of thing could happen to anyone. So this book taught me that there are people that could do something like this. That is why I liked this book.

Reader reviewed by Amanda W

Remembering the Good Times is a great book to read. In Remembering the Good Times it starts from the beginning of Kate, Buck, and Travs friendship. Throughout the book it shows the forming, fun, and hardships of friendship. Kate and Buck met in the woods, and then they met Trav in school during the seventh grade. They learned that Trav is the biggest worrywart. He sort of blew things out of proportion sometimes. Though Trav gave many signs of him committing suicide, Kate, Buck, Polly, nor anyone else ever noticed anything or took it too seriously.
There were many unique things about each of them. For example, Trav, he lives with his parents who are lawyers. His room was made up of childish doll figures, teddy bears, and rocket blankets, that was part of what made him unique. Kate on the other hand is pretty and the only girl of the group, with the exception of Polly of course. Kate is not very close to her mother, though, she mostly lives with her grandmother Polly, and is responsible of taking care of her. Polly is almost part of the gang too because she often plays games with them after school. Buck on the other hand lives with his father in a small cluttered trailer home. He does well in school and loves his friends, especially Kate who he secretly is attracted to. So as you can see they are completely different people, yet their friendship could last a lifetime.
This book was great. I was really interested. Maybe in some way I could relate to the characters. I would give this book a five, because I got into the book right away and often struggled putting the book down.

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.