Customer Reviews

A Year Down Yonder

5 star:		(108)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I don't always necessarily enjoy the books that win the Newbery Award, but this one is deserving. I can honestly say I would recommend it for anyone in 5th grade right on up to senior citizens. ("A Year Down Yonder" also stands alone very well - you don't need to have read "A Long Way From Chicago" in order to understand or enjoy this one.) The narrator is a 15 year old girl who is sent from Chicago to live with her grandmother in a rural town during the depression. We quickly come to appreciate the comic aspects of small-town life, but most especially we enjoy the wily ways of the grandmother, who is nobody's fool and mischievous to boot. At the same time, we admire her toughness and the warm heart behind the hard exterior. Each chapter is an amusing anecdote all its own, as we follow the town through a year from fall to summer. Small town incidents like halloween pranks, Christmas plays, ladies' luncheons and big storms become masterfully funny stories. Moments of this coming-of-age story are genuinely touching, while mirth prevails throughout. You will have a great time reading this one.

Richard Peck does it again and does it better with A Year Down Yonder. It's hard to believe that anything could top the award winning A Long Way from Chicago, but this does. This time Mary Alice goes to live with Grandma Dowdel alone, and the results are hilarious. Mary, who was always more wise to the ways of her grandmother, learns a few new things about the town and her grandmother while managing to cause a stir herself. Once again, Grandma Dowdel's antics are both humorous and heart-warming, but it's her commentaries about the people of the town that make it a side-splitting riot. A Year Down Yonder is a must read.

This book, the sequel to "A Long Way from Chicago", is worthy of attention too (I hope the Newbery committee considers it). It is just as funny as the original, which won a Newbery Honor.

Poor Mary Alice! She is sent to Grandma's house for a year, while her parents get back on their feet after the depression. In this book, Mary Alice is fifteen and can't think of anything worse than spending time in a tiny place, so unlike her hometown of Chicago.

This book finds all new adventures for Mary Alice and her eccentric grandmother, from the glue that will hold "till kingdom come" to the cherry tarts for the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution)tea, the fun just keeps coming. This book will make you laugh out loud and is a quick, enjoyable read.

Definitely a MUST READ for fans of "A Long Way from Chicago".

Richard Peck's A Year Down Yonder chronicles the zany adventures of Grandma Dowdel and her granddaughter Mary Alice. Raised in Chicago, Mary Alice is in for quite a shock when she finds herself sent to live with her grandmother in a country town in 1937. Although Mary Alice has a hard time adjusting (she has to learn to keep her beloved cat Bootsie outside and play her Philco portable radio at night in bed), she grows accustomed to the wacky way of living in which her grandmother has grown to love. Whether Mary Alice is helping her grandmother steal pecans to make a pie or making tarts for the Auxiliary Ladies, she never forgets her family and how much they mean to her. As the story draws to a close, Mary Alice finds herself closer to her grandmother than she ever thought would happen when she moved from Chicago.
This book does everything it can to keep the reader interested. From Grandma Dowdel's outrageous acts to Mary Alice's adventures in school, this book is never boring. In fact, it's hard to put down! The characters are extremely well developed and the detailed descriptions of the crazy stunts Grandma Dowdel and Mary Alice take part in are wonderful. In some way, every reader would be able to relate to the characters-whether it being the new kid on the block like Mary Alice or having a silly relative like Grandma Dowdel. If you are ever looking for a book that has wonderful humor, a lot of adventure or a sense or realism, A Year Down Yonder is a top pick!

I was almost hesitent to read A YEAR DOWN YONDER. I really liked A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO, and about half the time, sequils aren't as good as the first book. But by the time I read one page, I was sure that this book would be just as good, or better. I was right.

A YEAR DOWN YONDER is about 15 year old Mary Alice. Beacause of the Great Depression, Mary Alice has to go live with her grandmother until her family gets back on track. Sounds boring? Well you don't know Mary Alice's grandmother. Her grandmother is a feisty, trigger happy, cunning person who will play the meanest tricks, and do the nicest things in her own feisty way.

I really enjoyed it, and was a little sad when the last chaper was finished. My only complaint is that the last chapter doesn't really have to be there, and A YEAR DOWN YONDER might have been better without it. It wasn't as funny as A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO, but I liked it anyway, and even though I have almost nothing in comon with Mary Alice, sometimes I thought I was her. I would defintely reccomend A YEAR DOWN YONDER to anyone.

This sequel is fantastic! I loved the first one but must say this one is even better. Any kid's book that can make me laugh out loud is alright by me. The grandmother in these books is a character like none other. I read A Long Way From Chicago with my after school reading club of 5-7th graders and they loved it, now I can't wait to read this one with them. An absolute winner!

If you want to laugh till you can't breathe you have to read both of Peck's books about the visits to Grandma's. This is a book that definately should be shared with young adults and parents. Grandma is a charcater unlike any other you will meet, and full of surprises. Read A Long Way From Chicago first, then follow it up with this latest, you won't be disappointed. I hope Peck writes another , maybe about Grandma growing up so we can see how she developed into the indomitable character she is.

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck is about the humorous adventures of Mary Alice, an average 15-year old girl from Chicago, and her wacky grandmother, Grandma Dowdel. Mary Alice has to live with Grandma Dowdel for a year because her parents had to move into a tiny apartment and don't have enough room for her. The story takes place in Grandma's country town in 1937.

One scene I thought was funny happens on Halloween night when some boys come to wreck Grandma's outhouse (or privy) but she is ready for them. She sets a trap for them and pours glue on a boy's head. When the boys are gone, Grandma looks around the yard and finds a knife with one of the boy's initials on it. The next day Grandma goes to Mary Alice's school for a Halloween party and serves pie. Mary Alice and Grandma see the boy that Grandma poured glue on. When he comes for a piece of pie, Grandma gets out his knife and cuts him a piece with it. He is scared and angry and runs away.

I liked this book because a lot of crazy things happen such as after an artist rents a room from Grandma. One Sunday when Mary Alice and her boyfriend are doing homework, the artist is painting a naked lady in the attic. A big snake that Grandma has to keep birds away falls on the naked lady while she is posing. She runs screaming down the stairs, out the door and down the street. When Grandma sees what has happened, this is what she does.

'"That's too good a show to keep to ourselves," Grandma said. With the thought, she was through the front door and out in the front yard. Planting her house shoes, she jammed the Winchester into her shoulder, aimed high, and squeezed off both barrels. The world exploded. Birds rose shrieking from the trees, and the whole town woke with a start.'

The Grandma Dowdel character is hilarious. Grandma always does things she is not supposed to do and is not afraid of anyone or anything. Here is another example from the story. After making the town's men pay unreasonably high prices for soup to make money for Armistice Day, one of the Auxiliary ladies says this to Grandma:

"I'm here to tell you that you're twice as bald-faced and brazen and, yes, I have to say shameless as the rest of us girls put together. In the presence of these witnesses I'm on record for saying you outdo the most two-faced, two-fisted shortchanger, flimflam artist and full-time extortionist anybody ever saw working this part of the country. And all I have to say is, God bless you for your good work"....... "Did your late husband go to war?" "Only with me," Grandma said, "and he lost every time."

If you are a person who likes to laugh, likes good storytelling and wild characters you will like this book.

Join the fun during a Year Down Yonder. Following the life of Mary Alice and her fiery-tempered Grandma Dowdel. Mary Alice, the "rich Chicago girl" gets an education in real life. From Grandma Dowdel's relationship with her neighbors, her trigger-happiness, and her eccentric personality, she's just about the most lovable character I've read about lately.

The book includes everything a book should; humour, adventure, drama, and real life situations. Peck is a very talented author, deserving the awards his book has received, but this is more children's lit than teen lit. Still, I would recommend it to everyone, it's a great summer book, and the easy reading level makes it a quick read. Check it out, I think you'll like it.

When I first read A Long Way From Chicago, the prequel to this book, it was the first book I had read by Richard Peck. I read it because it was the Newbery Honor. Now there is A Year Down Yonder, the sequel to A Long Way From Chicago. Mary Alice Dowdel visits her feisty grandmother for a year, and learns a few tricks of her trade. The subtle humor and sometimes out of this "worldness" make this book about as enjoyable as books can get!!