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Banjo
Alvin Dickinson and Banjo Byler decide to do their school report on a notorious local hermit and end up trapped in the bottom of a spar silo
80 pages, Hardcover
First published August 12, 1982
3 people want to read
About the author
Robert Newton Peck
79 books82 followersRobert Newton Peck is an American author of books for young adults. His titles include Soup and A Day No Pigs Would Die. He claims to have been born on February 17, 1928, in Vermont, but has refused to specify where. Similarly, he claims to have graduated from a high school in Texas, which he has also refused to identify. Some sources state that he was born in Nashville, Tennessee (supposedly where his mother was born, though other sources indicate she was born in Ticonderoga, New York, and that Peck, himself, may have been born there). The only reasonably certain Vermont connection is that his father was born in Cornwall.
Peck has written over sixty books including a great book explaining his childhood to becoming a teenager working on the farm called: A Day no Pigs would Die
He was a smart student, although his schooling was cut short by World War II. During and shortly after the conflict, he served as a machine-gunner in the U.S. Army 88th Infantry Division. Upon returning to the United States, he entered Rollins College, graduating in 1953. He then entered Cornell Law School, but never finished his course of study.
Newton married Dorothy Anne Houston and fathered two children, Anne and Christopher. The best man at the wedding and the godfather to the children was Fred Rogers of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood fame.
A Day No Pigs Would Die was his first novel, published in 1972 when he was already 44 years old. From then on he continued his lifelong journey through literature. To date, he has been credited for writing 55 fiction books, 6 nonfiction books, 35 songs, 3 television specials and over a hundred poems.
Several of his historical novels are about Fort Ticonderoga: Fawn, Hang for Treason, The King's Iron.
In 1993, Peck was diagnosed with oral cancer, but survived. As of 2005, he was living in Longwood, Florida, where he has in the past served as the director of the Rollins College Writers Conference. Peck sings in a barbershop quartet, plays ragtime piano, and is an enthusiastic speaker. His hobby is visiting schools, "to turn kids on to books."
—From Wikipedia
For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/robert-n...
Peck has written over sixty books including a great book explaining his childhood to becoming a teenager working on the farm called: A Day no Pigs would Die
He was a smart student, although his schooling was cut short by World War II. During and shortly after the conflict, he served as a machine-gunner in the U.S. Army 88th Infantry Division. Upon returning to the United States, he entered Rollins College, graduating in 1953. He then entered Cornell Law School, but never finished his course of study.
Newton married Dorothy Anne Houston and fathered two children, Anne and Christopher. The best man at the wedding and the godfather to the children was Fred Rogers of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood fame.
A Day No Pigs Would Die was his first novel, published in 1972 when he was already 44 years old. From then on he continued his lifelong journey through literature. To date, he has been credited for writing 55 fiction books, 6 nonfiction books, 35 songs, 3 television specials and over a hundred poems.
Several of his historical novels are about Fort Ticonderoga: Fawn, Hang for Treason, The King's Iron.
In 1993, Peck was diagnosed with oral cancer, but survived. As of 2005, he was living in Longwood, Florida, where he has in the past served as the director of the Rollins College Writers Conference. Peck sings in a barbershop quartet, plays ragtime piano, and is an enthusiastic speaker. His hobby is visiting schools, "to turn kids on to books."
—From Wikipedia
For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/robert-n...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 25, 2022
5 stars -- This is the story of Alvin Dickinson's and Ferguson Hale "Banjo" Byler's adventure as they try to gather information - 'research' - about Mr. Jake Horse, the legendary local miner who did not leave the spar mine when the company closed it. Alvin and Banjo are partners in a school assignment for which they must write a theme on a famous person. Banjo chooses Jake Horse and drags a fearful Alvin along with him to the mine. Mr. Horse purportedly stayed there or close to there with his white mule Essie & his banjo and became a recluse because he did not like people. No one truly knows if he is alive or not, so he has become the subject of ghostly, scary tales. When Alvin & Banjo go to the mine to look for him or clues of him, Jake Horse becomes a larger-than-life reality. Banjo suggests a dangerous enterprise of climbing down the chute that traverses the tops of all eight silos at the mine, and as they clamber down, a rotten board breaks under Banjo, and he falls into a silo. That is when the real fun begins. I love the surprising touching moment in this story. I love how the title, both the person and the instrument, is worked into the story. I love how the story makes very clear the power of having people in your life.
Songs mentioned include "You Are My Sunshine", "Turkey in the Straw", "The Moon Shines Tonight on Pretty Red Wing", "Oh Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie", and "Wabash Cannonball".
Songs mentioned include "You Are My Sunshine", "Turkey in the Straw", "The Moon Shines Tonight on Pretty Red Wing", "Oh Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie", and "Wabash Cannonball".
September 5, 2023
Another book in my book club with my friends 9 year old son. I'll make him a reader if we keep getting such great stories!
September 22, 2011
I loved this book as a kid. :)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews