From Publishers Weekly
Pete is 13 the summer the Preacher Man comes to his small town, vulnerable with both adolescent yearning and the need to find religious fulfillment. His parents are lapsed church-goers, who neither share nor encourage their son's deeper convictions. The Preacher Man, with mesmerizing blue eyes, is a traveling evangelist who holds revivalist meetings in Pete's town that summer; Pete finds in him a companion who can understand his feelings about God without speaking a word. As the Preacher Man takes on Christ-like proportions in his mind, Pete decides to travel with the man when he leaves town. Pete waits for him all night, his bags packed, feeling as if he were called to this journey. But Rufus, his best friend and a confirmed atheist, is the one who tells Pete that the Preacher Man has run off with a woman. A year later, Pete understands that the Preacher Man's fallibility was of this earth, not to be confused with a betrayal by God. Rylant's writing is deceptively simple, creating an emotional whirlpool for the reader that is not unlike Pete's own experience. Her characters are adults and teenagers who are neither good nor bad, but richly, heartbreakingly human.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-7 During the summer following seventh grade, something religious is itching Peter. His interest in the church turns into mesmerization with the spirit of the Lord when the Preacher Man comes to town. Peter is hooked and "saved" at the first revival meeting; at the second the Preacher Man reels him in so tightly that when he is asked to join "the Man" on his travels to save people, he says yes. The pain of the thought of leaving home is dimmed by his haloed vision of being a savior. But the heavenly bliss of his mission is shattered when the Man doesn't meet him on the appointed night; instead he has run off with the girl from the drugstore. Devastated by the betrayal, Peter is saved again; this time by his trusty atheist friend Rufus, who helps him see the light of living. Few books have explored young people's fascination with God and their soul. Rylant's subtle telling has a hymn-like quality, sung in a melodic, soulful way which reverberates within the reader's compassion. Although the tone is serious, Peter's recounting is personal and sensitivelike religion and friendships, presumed and assumed. Like Peter, this story has soul. Julie Cummins, Monroe County Library System, Rochester, N.Y.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
