A review by kiragrieco
The Best Man by Richard Peck

4.0

When I was reading through different middle grade summaries for my YA lit class and I came across this one, I loved the sweet and simple idea behind it. And that’s exactly what it was when I read it- sweet. Archer is a cute and rather oblivious 5th/6th grader throughout the story who absolutely idolizes his dad, his grandpa, and his Uncle Paul. His best friend, Lynette, is a perfect example of a girl this age, especially as Archer mentions her changes and transitions once they hit middle school. In the same way, Archer is a perfect example of a boy at the age; clueless, funny, mischievous, and a perfect narrator for the story. He made me laugh so many times throughout, this was really just a perfect light-hearted middle grade book. My one qualm with it, and the reason I gave it a 4 star rating, is I would’ve liked to see more character development in some of the adults, along with relationship development. I know that this might have been done intentionally to show how Archer still doesn’t know a lot about adults, but the ending felt sort of abrupt, but didn’t leave me feeling dissatisfied in any way. That being said though, this really is a very good, light-hearted, happy middle grade read!