Past Perfect, Present Tense: New and Collected Stories Book

I adore Richard Peck's writing. It's readable and perceptive and filled with quirky characters that constantly make me laugh. Or, at least, that's what I would have told you before I read this collection of short stories. So when I spotted his name on the spine of a book at my library's latest book sale, I snatched it up faster than you could say, "snaggletoothed tomcat."

As expected, there were many hilarious and heartwarming stories that made me so, so happy to have found this little book. For example, the whole storyline of I Go Along made me sort of sad and wistful for high school. Not in a "Oh I miss high school so much!" way (who does?), but in a "Oh goodness I wish I could go back and re-do it and be less wrapped up in myself this time" way. You never know when something you say could help someone see themselves differently. You never know who people can be, or as Gene says, "It's weird, like there could be poets around and you wouldn't realize they were there."


And- also as expected- there were many characters I fell in love with and wanted to read more of their stories: Priscilla in Priscilla and the Wimps and Blossom in The Special Powers of Blossom Culp. So if you see me reading the somewhat unappealing (to me) titles of Secrets of the Shopping Mall or The Ghost Belonged to Me anytime soon, now you know why. I'm already a fan of their protagonists. Or, to quote Miss Cartwright, "I have hopes for your future, Blossom. You will go far in your own peculiar way."

However, I was not so big on the spooky stories section of the collection. They lacked much of the humor, warmth, and thoughtfulness that I expect from Peck's writing- and that's really the reason I'm torn between three and four stars as far as how to rate this book. Obviously, I'm not the target audience. I don't read stories for the sole purpose of being scared out of my wits- never have. And if I suddenly decided that I wanted to read something scary for the sake of being scared, I wouldn't pick a ghost story. I would just like ONE PERSON to explain to my why ghosts are supposedly so scary. What are they going to do? Make weird noises? Move the curtains? Tell me to take revenge on the person that murdered them and stole their throne, which I can then debate during a dramatic monologue? I mean, idk... None of that sounds very scary to me. So, by far, my favorite story in this part of the collection was Shadows, which was less of a story meant to scare you out of your wits and more a story about life that happened to have ghosts in it.

So, all in all, this is a lovely collection of short stories. Excuse me, I need to add another two novels (AT LEAST) to my ever-growing list of books I'd like to read in the future.