Peck recounts many of his boyhood experiences in A Day No Pigs Would Die; he even uses his own name for the main character. The story takes place in rural Vermont in the late 1920s. Rob Peck and his family live on a farm outside the small village of Learning. The closest town of any size is Rutland, the county seat. To Rob, the only member of his family to ever see Rutland, it is the biggest city in the world.

The Pecks are Shakers. Members of this religious sect call themselves Plain People and do not believe in frills of any sort. Although poor in terms of money, the Pecks consider themselves rich in love and land. They have no horses to pull their wagon to Rutland, but they have a strong ox for chores and are proud that they have worked hard for their farm, which...