Even though Peck has written several adult novels and a number of textbooks, case studies, and other nonfiction, he is best known as a writer of "problem novels" for young adults.

Don't Look and It Won't Hurt deals with teenage pregnancy; Representing Super Doll focuses on exploitation in beauty contests; Father Figure deals with the death of a parent; Remembering the Good Times focuses on teenage suicide; and Are You in the House Alone? deals with rape. Those Summer Girls I Never Met falls into this genre, but it deals with a number of interrelated problems and is somewhat more complex that its predecessors.

Three of Peck's novels have been adapted for television: Father Figure, Are You In the House Alone?, and The Ghost Belonged to Me.