Soup on Fire

Soup #9

by Robert Newton Peck

Rob and Soup set in motion a wild scheme to catch the eye of the Hollywood talent scout visiting their small Vermont town.

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Robert 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...

Reviews

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

C+. fiction, children's fiction, grade 4, early 20th c. adventure, humor. series, (Soup, #9)

[Books Kids Like · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soup and Robert are caught with their pants down. Chased through town by their archenemy, Janice Riker, the boys hide in the town's water tower. While they are there Soup decides that they should go swimming. Janice finds them and steals their pants. When Sheriff Blood orders them out of the tower they must come down the ladder with their shirts on but without their pants. Soup hears that Hollywood Heartburn and Fearless Ferguson are coming to Learning searching for movie talent. He puts together a stunt-man act. He borrows an old garbage wagon and a load of hay. Enticing Janice to set the hay on fire, Soup and Robert ride the wagon into town. They topple the water tower and land in a huge pile of Bathsheba Bubble Bath. Fearless Ferguson, who is very shy, made the run with them because he was hiding in the hay. The followers of Bishop Zion Zeal also came to town that day. The Hollywood people and the religious folk are battling for the same territory. Soap's stunt succeeds in uniting the two groups.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was ok, but nothing remarkable. It was a little too far-fetched for me, especially at the end when the boys were actually thanked for something that should have come with significant consequences.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Soup book, but still worth the read as part of the series.

[Amanda Wige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book.