Award-Winning Author Richard Peck '56 Praised in Washington Post and Cleveland Plain Dealer

December 14, 2006

December 14, 2006, Greencastle, Ind. - A Cleveland Plain Dealer review of Destination: Unexpected, a collection of short stories for young readers, notes, "One of the most delightful stories is 'The Kiss in the Carryon Bag' by Richard Peck. An Indiana high-schooler unexpectedly meets royalty on a summer study trip to Europe. The handsome, sheltered prince, the young American tourist and their meeting all ring true," writes Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy. Richard Peck is a Newbery Medal-winning author and 1956 graduate of DePauw University.

The Washington Post lists Peck's latest work, Here Lies the Librarian, among the top 10 books for children. Elizabeth Ward writes, "Peck coolly kills off a swag of stereotypes, including that of the mean, dried-up lady librarian, in a romp set in 1914 rural Indiana at the dawn of the automobile age."

Richard Peck is the only children's book author to receive a National Humanities Medal. Called "America's best living author for young adults" -- he was the 2001 recipient of the Newbery Medal (the top prize for children's literature given by the American Library Association) for A Year Down Yonder. Peck was also the 2002 winner of the Chicago Tribune Prize for Young Adult Fiction, and the 1990 winner of the prestigious Margaret A. Edwards Award, sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association of the American Library Association in cooperation with School Library Journal. He has written more than two dozen novels for young adults.

Hear audio clips from a 2001 interview with the author in this previous story.

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