Soup's Goat

Soup #7

by Robert Newton Peck

Clean and tidy cousin Sexton lends his unusual talent to Soup and Rob as they engage in the town's goat-cart race.

Genres: Childrens

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

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

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars -- I made the mistake of reading this post-op, and while it was not quite as hilarious as Soup's Drum, I was still giggling mightily during the goat race. Trust Soup to come up with the doggonest ideas, and trust Robert Newton Peck to relate those ideas like he is unveiling the cleverest of mysteries. And in many ways, he is! My only complaint with this was that for some reason, Peck does not allow the boys or even the teacher to use -ly adverbs. For example, instead of saying 'probably' the characters would say 'probable'. And while I wasn't a fan of the boys saying it, I sort of drew the line on the teacher saying it too. This is now a discarded book from my library, and again, I just feel that my upper elementary students are missing out.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As we read more and more of the Soup books, we have come to love the main characters so much. The teacher, Miss Kelly, is one character I have learned so much from. Her compassionate ways in dealing with troublesome children have touched me to tears. But don't worry; by the very next chapter, we were all laughing again. To me, this is the mark of a good book.

[Shawn Cunningham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soup finds a goat and attempts to domesticate it.

Publisher: Yearling
Publication Date: 1988

Audience: 8-12
specific use: independent practice.
social issues: Providing for and caring for a pet.
literacy elements: humor
genre: comedy

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a goofy plot. Not terribly well-written but worth the short time it took to read it.

[Amanda Wige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book.