Invitations to the World: Teaching and Writing for the Young [Hardcover]

Richard Peck (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

From one of the most respected voices in young-adult literature comes this impassioned, inspiring book of observations and ideas. Part memoir, part writing manual, part social commentary, Invitations to the World spans Richard Peck's entire career-from his first days as a high school English teacher to his current life as a Newbery-winning author-and touches on the issues that have followed him throughout it: the dangers of conformity and censorship, the limits of our education system, and the desire to provide young people with books that will nourish their fragile individuality.

Including strong, witty poems and excerpts from Peck's award-winning novels, as well as reproducible pages of tips for encouraging children to read, this is an invaluable book for all parents, librarians, teachers, writers, and readers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Aspiring writers learn from voices of experience in a trio of titles. In the first, Invitations to the World: Teaching and Writing for the Young, Newbery Medalist Richard Peck (A Year Down Yonder) describes his own beginnings as a writer and how he gets his ideas, and offers his opinion on education and crafting works of fiction. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Richard Peck has won almost every children's fiction award, including the Newbery Award and the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in young-adult literature, and he has received a National Humanities Medal from the White House.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Dial (September 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803727348
• ISBN-13: 978-0803727342
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Peck has written over twenty novels, and in the process has become one of America's most highly respected writers for young adults. A versatile writer, he is beloved by middle graders as well as young adults for his mysteries and coming-of-age novels. He now lives in New York City. In addition to writing, he spends a great deal of time traveling around the country attending speaking engagements at conferences, schools and libraries...Mr. Peck has won a number of major awards for the body of his work, including the Margaret A. Edwards Award from School Library Journal, the National Council of Teachers of English/ALAN Award, and the 1991 Medallion from the University of Southern Mississippi. Virtually every publication and association in the field of children s literature has recommended his books, including Mystery Writers of America which twice gave him their Edgar Allan Poe Award. Dial Books for Young Readers is honored to welcome Richard Peck to its list with Lost in Cyberspace and its sequel The Great Interactive Dream Machine...

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Teacher and Writer Should Read This, December 31, 2002

By 

John (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Invitations to the World: Teaching and Writing for the Young (Hardcover)

I am an undergraduate English major with a passion for children's literature and young adult literature (which drives a few of my current professors crazy). What an amazing experience it was to pick up this non-fiction work by Richard Peck that details Peck's own passion for America's youth and his way of reaching out to them through his outstanding (I was already a fan of Peck's work) novels. The work is, as the inside of the dust jacket claims, part "memoir, social commentary, and writing manual." Peck tells how he came to writing young adult literature, he evokes the great need for the books, and he details what and why he has written. The works serves not just as an overview of Peck's work but also of the young adult genre since its inception. There is so much to gain from this work, and you certainly come away from it feeling just what an extraordinary man and writer Richard Peck is, and you feel the extant of the extraordinary accomplishments young adult literature has made and the great need for it to be read by today's youth. Invitation to the World is a work that anyone who will be teaching should read (including non-English teachers), and anyone who may be planning to write children's or young adult literture cannot miss this.

5.0 out of 5 stars Richard Peck is One of the Best YA Authors, December 4, 2011

By 

Gee - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Invitations to the World: Teaching and Writing for the Young (Hardcover)

I have almost all of Mr. Peck's books in my personal library. He is my favorite YA author, and I have given away more copies of "A Long Way From Chicago" and "A Year Down Yonder" than I can remember a number! Being a MS English teacher, I relished the insight Mr. Peck gives about teaching and writing in this book. What a wonderful resource! The "Seven Do's and Don't's" and "Ten Questions" are language arts "gold."

0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Story Of A High School Teacher, March 28, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Invitations to the World: Teaching and Writing for the Young (Hardcover)

The book I read is the Invitations To The World.It's about ths high school teacher learning aout the student and threw the limits of education and danger of comfort and it talks a little of bullying and about votes.He puts a date 9/11 and he says it's a dramatic that need for ridges if geography liked this book was literature.About danger of comformity and censorship about he's a great author and i give 5 stars to him because i really like this book.My opion is that most of tis stuff i agree because it makes alot of sence about this stuff that he's talking about.Richard Peck gives alot of what he means alot.He was the only the adult in the room hope his best of luck hope he writes another book soon.