A Place for Peter by Elizabeth Yates

A Place for Peter is a good choice for boys who are avid readers and enjoy character-driven, literary coming-of-age stories, or families who are looking for a read-aloud that many have overlooked.

A Place for Peter by Elizabeth Yates. JourneyForth, 1994. 192 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, Ages 10-12, Ages 12-15

Recommended For: Ages 10 and up

Martha observes the tense relationship between Andrew, her husband, and their son Peter. She recognizes that Peter needs challenges that will shape him into manhood. Shortly thereafter she is called away for an emergency that extends over several months, leaving Andrew in a position of relying on his son first to do what Martha would have done (boiling maple sap and planting a garden), then more difficult and dangerous tasks that may help improve the farm.

Over the summer Peter observes birth and death among the animals he loves and slowly becomes a man. Though his father is distant, Peter is helped and mentored by the gentle, nature-loving example of their neighbor Benj. Readers who are familiar with Yates’s Newbery award-winning Amos Fortune, Free Man will find echoes of Amos’s humility and reliance on God in Benj as he both lifts up his eyes to the hills and clears them of enemies.

A good choice for avid readers who enjoy character-driven, literary coming-of-age stories, or families who are looking for a read-aloud that many have overlooked.

Considerations: None

Overall Rating: 4.25 out of 5

Worldview/Moral Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Literary/Artistic Rating: 4 out of 5

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