WEEDS IN BLOOM: Autobiography of an Ordinary Man
Robert Newton Peck
Random House
Autobiography
ISBN: 037582801X
224 pages

"MY BOOK IS YOUR AMERICA. An album of my old friends and your new ones. Real citizens you deserve to greet, and know, and possibly remember. You shall know me by the people I have known."

With over sixty-five books published, including the highly acclaimed novel A DAY NO PIGS WOULD DIE and a series of Soup books that won him the prestigious Mark Twain Award, Robert Newton Peck is a well-seasoned author with an established readership. His books have explored a variety of subjects from his boyhood experiences in rural Vermont to tales about making ends meet while growing up on a farm, as a cattle rancher, or as a solider during the French and Indian War. WEEDS IN BLOOM, Peck's latest literary endeavor, is a simple yet enjoyable autobiography that unfolds as a series of sketches of various people who have influenced his life over the past seventy years.

True to his word, WEEDS IN BLOOM has no plot. Instead, each chapter focuses on a character who fits respectively into one of three periods in Peck's life: his "Vermont Boyhood," his "Early Manhood," and the "Florida Years." Although some readers may miss the safety that accompanies a linear story line, others will feel less bogged down by the lack of a traditional arc, and will delight in using their own imaginations to continue where Peck has left off in each tiny vignette. It is as if he has knowingly created 25 beginnings to 25 possible stories, and by reading through them, his readers are given access to the essence of his life by getting to know the people he has encountered along the way.

In Part I: Vermont Boyhood, Peck explores his childhood in all its rugged, wide-eyed glory. Here, we bear witness to his life at home with his family, complete with all the trappings of a carefree adolescence: practicing baseball in the sweltering summer heat, playing in the dirt until dusk, and learning life-long lessons from his elders. Two of the most memorable chapters in the book are in this first section --- "Miss Kelly," when Robert writes his first poem and shares it with his teacher, Miss Kelly (who proves to be a lasting inspiration for Peck), and "Keepsake," when he and his best friend Luther sneak into a truck stop bathroom to buy their first condom at the age of ten. (A humorous side note: Peck actually kept this same condom with him until well after his return from the Army, when he promptly buried the torn and ratty thing in the backyard as a tribute to his boyhood.)

Part II: Early Manhood charts Peck's life in the army and the years immediately following his return. In "Dear Elliot," we meet a dear friend and fellow soldier who touched the lives of those around him by simply sharing his care packages from home. Unfortunately, he was killed in battle, but not before altering Peck's life for the better. In "Saw" and "Paper," Peck tells of his grueling yet enlightening experiences in the saw and paper mills, and in "Dr. Granberry" we are introduced to a football scout for small colleges that would change Peck's life forever by pushing him to go to college and providing him with a scholarship.

Part III: The Florida Years covers the last third of Peck's life up to the present. For the most part, these stories take place in Florida and bear the fruit of his past journeys. As most storytellers are apt to do when looking back on their lives, he sounds wiser and well-worn in these passages, and the people (and animals) we meet in this section are weathered as well. The last entry entitled "Just as I Am" is a delightful list of thirty-three tried-and-true beliefs and expressions that he has stumbled across and stuck to throughout his life, the last of which being: "Wish not for apples. Grow strong trees."

All in all an interesting and personal retrospective of an accomplished author and well-loved cowboy, WEEDS IN BLOOM will surely satisfy young adult readers, particularly those fond of autobiographies and nonfiction.

   --- Reviewed by Alexis Burling

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