Past Perfect, Present Tense

Peck, Richard. Past Perfect, Present Tense. Dial Books, 2004. ISBN 0-8037-2998-7

Plot

This is a collection of short stories. There is not a plot to the whole book, but there is a plan. In the Introduction, the author begins by explaining that the short story is about change just like any other work of fiction. The character or characters in the story have an epiphany, or a breakthrough of understanding. In the short story, this often comes at the end, sometimes even in the very last sentence. This leaves the reader to play out the meaning of the epiphany in their own mind. The author describes how his work as a middle school teacher prepared him to write for a young audience. He describes the phone call from an editor of a magazine for teenagers who challenged him to write his first short story in under one thousand words and in under 36 hours. The result was "Priscilla and the Wimps." In this story a gang rules a middle school until the very tall Priscilla dispatches their leader within minutes. The ending is chilling, both literally and figuratively. The rest of the book is divided into sections called The Past, The Supernatural, and The Present. Each section has a brief introduction followed by four short stories. A story set in the past, "Shotgun Cheatham's Last Night Above Ground," is comic and memorable. It introduces the reader to the character Grandma Dowdel. This short story was the beginning of the novel A Long Way from Home for which the author won the John Newbery Silver medal in 1999. The book ends with an essay titled "How to Write a Short Story" and a list of "Five Helpful Hints."

Critical Evaluation

The author gives his reader a very thorough understanding of his work. He points out the questions which inform his work as a writer: What if I were the character in this story? What would I do? His short stories show how strong character development makes the characters and stories memorable. He explains how he targets his stories for young people. He asks and answers this question: When will I start taking charge of my life? And he reminds the young reader/author that all stories begin with asking the question, "What if?"

Annotations

Short stories are easy to read but very difficult to write. Richard Peck describes his own journey as a short story writer and explains the motivations for the stories he writes. The book contains thirteen short stories.

Author

Richard Peck is the author of more than thirty books. He is the first children's writer to receive a National Humanities Medal.

Genre

Fiction – short stories

Curriculum Ties

Language arts – narrative writing

Booktalk Ideas

Read Pecks's challenge (in the final essay) to think about what you saw today that would make a good short story.

Reading Level/Interest Age

Grade 6 (age 12) and up.

Challenge Issues and Defense

There are scenes of implied violence and supernatural themes in some of the stories. The short story format leaves much of the challenge issues to the imagination of the reader.

Why is it here?

I wanted to read and review a collection of short stories for young readers.