On the Wings of Heroes
Written by Richard Peck
Narrated by Lincoln Hoppe
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
World War II has invaded Davy's homefront boyhood. There's an air raid drill in the classroom, and being a kid is an endless scrap drive. Bill has joined up, breaking their dad's heart. It's an intense, confusing time, and one that will invite Davy to grow up in a hurry.
This is one of Richard Peck's finest novels-a tender, unforgettable portrait of the World War II homefront and a family's love.
Richard Peck
"I spent the first eighteen years of my life in Decatur, Illinois, a middle-American town in a time when teenagers were considered guilty until proven innocent, which is fair enough. My mother read to me before I could read to myself, and so I dreamed from the start of being a writer in New York. But Decatur returned to haunt me, becoming the "Bluff City" of my four novels starring Alexander Armsworth and Blossom Culp. When I was young, we were never more than five minutes from the nearest adult, and that solved most of the problems I write about for a later generation living nearer the edge. The freedoms and choices prematurely imposed upon young people today have created an entire literature for them. But then novels are never about people living easy lives through tranquil times; novels are the biographies of survivors. "I went to college in Indiana and then England, and I was a soldier in Germany -- a chaplain's assistant in Stuttgart -- ghost-writing sermons and hearing more confessions than the clergy. In Decatur we'd been brought up to make a living and not to take chances, and so I became an English teacher, thinking this was as close to the written word as I'd be allowed to come. And it was teaching that made a writer out of me. I found my future readers right there in the roll book. After all, a novel is about the individual within the group, and that's how I saw young people every day, as their parents never do. In all my novels, you have to declare your independence from your peers before you can take that first real step toward yourself. As a teacher, I'd noticed that nobody ever grows up in a group. "I wrote my first line of fiction on May 24th, 1971 -- after seventh period. I'd quit my teaching job that day, liberated at last from my tenure and hospitalization. At first, I wrote with my own students in mind. Shortly, I noticed that while I was growing older every minute at the typewriter, my readers remained mysteriously the same age. For inspiration, I now travel about sixty thousand miles a year, on the trail of the young. Now, I never start a novel until some young reader, somewhere, gives me the necessary nudge.. "In an age when hardly more than half my readers live in the same homes as their fathers, I was moved to write Father Figure. In it a teenaged boy who has played the father-figure role to his little brother is threatened when they are both reunited with the father they hardly know. It's a novel like so many of our novels that moves from anger to hope in situations to convince young readers that novels can be about them... "I wrote Are You in the House Alone? when I learned that the typical victim of our fastest growing, least-reported crime, rape, is a teenager -- one of my own readers, perhaps. It's not a novel to tell young readers what rape is. They already know that. It's meant to portray a character who must become something more than a victim in our judicial system that defers to the criminal... "Two of my latest attempts to keep pace with the young are a comedy called Lost in Cyberspace and its sequel, The Great Interactive Dream Machine. Like a lot of adults, I noticed that twelve year olds are already far more computer-literate than I will ever be. As a writer, I could create a funny story on the subject, but I expect young readers will be more attracted to it because it is also a story about two friends having adventures together. There's a touch of time travel in it, too, cybernetically speaking, for those readers who liked sharing Blossom Culp's exploits. And the setting is New York, that magic place I dreamed of when I was young in Decatur, Illinois..." More About Richard Peck Richard Peck has written over twenty novels, and in the process has become one of America's most highly respected writers for young adults. A versatile writer, he is beloved by middle graders as well as young adults for his mysteries and coming-of-age novels. He now lives in New York City. In addition to writing, he spends a great deal of time traveling around the country attending speaking engagements at conferences, schools and libraries... Mr. Peck has won a number of major awards for the body of his work, including the Margaret A. Edwards Award from School Library Journal, the National Council of Teachers of English/ALAN Award, and the 1991 Medallion from the University of Southern Mississippi. Virtually every publication and association in the field of children s literature has recommended his books, including Mystery Writers of America which twice gave him their Edgar Allan Poe Award. Dial Books for Young Readers is honored to welcome Richard Peck to its list with Lost in Cyberspace and its sequel The Great Interactive Dream Machine... Twenty Minutes a Day by Richard Peck Read to your children Twenty minutes a day; You have the time, And so do they. Read while the laundry is in the machine; Read while the dinner cooks; Tuck a child in the crook of your arm And reach for the library books. Hide the remote, Let the computer games cool, For one day your children will be off to school; Remedial? Gifted? You have the choice; Let them hear their first tales In the sound of your voice. Read in the morning; Read over noon; Read by the light of Goodnight Moon. Turn the pages together, Sitting close as you'll fit, Till a small voice beside you says, "Hey, don't quit." copyright © 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.
Related to On the Wings of Heroes
Related audiobooks
Code Word Courage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of Kevin M. Sullivan's The Bundy Murders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConfessions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roman on the ice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaking Waves at River View Cottage: An escapist, heartwarming read from Jennifer Bohnet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHe's the Rich Boy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ask Anyone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wedding Favors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Humboldt River Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cowboy's Challenge Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5If Only in My Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hollow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bear Necessity: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Billy Goat Hill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Teashop Girls at War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBitterroot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whiskey Creek Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Single Santa: A Steamy Small Town Holiday Romance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Unusual Life of David Snod: Episode 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Duke of Nothing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Daniel James Brown's The Indifferent Stars Above Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurder in Piccadilly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Snowfall on Lighthouse Lane Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Summary of Michael Lewis's Flash Boys Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe World Doesn't Require You: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Children's Historical For You
How Do You Live? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making Bombs for Hitler: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Little House in the Big Woods Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne of Green Gables Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5By the Shores of Silver Lake Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Little House on the Prairie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Long Winter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Allies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Projekt 1065: A Novel of World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One False Note (The 39 Clues, Book 2) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Night Divided Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5These Happy Golden Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Heir (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 1) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Iceberg Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On the Banks of Plum Creek Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 (I Survived #1) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Little Town on the Prairie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Last Days: The Death of the Nazi Regime and the World's Most Notorious Dictator Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ground Zero Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Farmer Boy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inside Out & Back Again Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Resistance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Place to Hang the Moon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Selma: True Stories of a Southern Childhood at the Height of the Civil Rights Movement Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine (National Book Award Finalist) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The First Four Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Arithmetic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Heroes: A Novel of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for On the Wings of Heroes
81 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A good book with some fun and hilarious characters (Eulalia!), but a touch too heavy on the 'this was before and this was after' war.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I was disappointed with Here Lies the Librarian, but I will always read whatever Richard Peck writes, even a grocery list. This book is a lovely nostalgic trip with memorable characters. I cried and was sad when I had finished reading it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What a writer Peck is. Here's another terrific tale, this one about WWII as seen through a boy's eyes. Peck evokes the time with great sensitivity and some humor while managing to communicate some fierce truths about war and love and parenting. Highly recommended.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Although it wraps up a little too neatly, I enjoyed listening to this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Davy Bowman can divide his life into two parts: before the war, and during. During World War 2, he and his family are affected by rations, drives for materials such as paper and metal, and by Davy's brother Bill going off to fly B-17's.Something about Richard Peck's writing fit perfectly with an audio format. Though the subject of war makes this story a bit more sober in tone than others I've read (like A Year Down Yonder and Here Lies the Librarian, his trademark humor and focus on small-town life with quirky characters still shines through. Lincoln Hoppe was an excellent reader, sounding like he was smiling through most of the story, if not about to laugh during the funnier parts. Whether you like humor, historical fiction, or just a good old-fashioned story, I highly recommend this book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There are at least three scenes in this books that will stick with the rest of my life. It is as if the characters have become my relatives and the stories are something that come unbidden from memory into my consciousness without warning, usually when I need a laugh. Like a lot of funny things, the humorous situations in this book rise out of the circumstances of people living through tough times. The everyday heroism and funny things in this book will be your's for a long time.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5World War II is beginning and young Davy and his best friend Scooter are busy doing their part by collecting the junk de jour. One day they're searching for scrap metal in creepy old Mr. Stonecypher's attic the next they're scavenging for milkweed near an old barn. While they're searching around the barn they spy a vintage car and try out the seats. They're scared to death when a woman shoots her shotgun and announces that they're on her property. I loved this book. There's a lot of information about rationing and daily life during the war years. The characters express emotions about loss and grief in a very real way. Definitely a winner.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Davy Bowman remembers, "Nobody was a stranger before the war." The Illinois neighborhood rang with the sounds of children playing hide-and-seek, of neighbors sharing stories on their front porch, and of laughter from the delights of successful Halloween antics. Davy Bowman's world is happy and safe because of his heroes, his Dad and his older brother Bill, who always seemed to find time to do things with Davy.Pearl Harbor is bombed and Davy's world changes. His Dad becomes the local air raid warden and Bill goes off to become a B-17 bombardier, flying missions over Germany. There are air raid drills and endless scrap drives. New kids enroll in Davy's school, "eight-to-five orphans," whose mothers work at the local war plants. Everything is rationed, but the whole community pitches in to do their part for the war effort.Davy still has his heroes to depend upon but soon he begins to discover that in his neighborhood there are other heroes and during the next few years he learns what sacrifice and courage really means.In "On the Wings of Heroes," Newberry Medal-winning author Richard Peck's easy-going pace and sly humor captures the sense of community in Middle America before and during World War II. Reading it stirred up millions of memories of my own childhood neighbors and escapades and also helped me to gain a deeper understanding of what my parents and older siblings had to endure during the war.It is an outstanding example of well written historical fiction that captures the heart and soul of families during war times, not only the wars of the past, but also the wars of the present. I highly recommend this book as a useful tool for teachers and counselors. I sincerely hope that grandparents and grandchildren, fathers and sons will also share this book. It is the beginning of discussion, of understanding, and perhaps even healing.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Davy Bowman's dad and brother hung the moon. Dad looks forward to Halloween more than a kid, and Davy's brother, Bill, flies B-17's. Davy adores these two heroes and tries his best to follow their lead, especially now. World War III has invaded Davy's homefront boyhood. There's an air raid drill in the classroom, and being a kid is an endless scrap drive. Bill has joined up, breaking their dad's heart. It's an intense, confusing time, and one that will invite Davy to grow up in a hurry.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In a time of innocence the Second World War comes into Day Bowman’s young life. His older brother joins the fledgling air core and is sent off to Europe. The story tells of how Davy’s families deal with rationing, a son in combat and the disruption of war in family life. A war story with a happy ending for Davy’s family.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I like historical fiction set in this period. However I think most kids want "battle books" not stories about the homefront. IF they are willing to give it a try, they will get into the story.