A Year Down Yonder (Newbery Medal Book) (Hardcover)

by Richard Peck (Author), Steve Cieslawski (Illustrator) "Oh, didn't I feel sorry for myself when the Wabash Railroad's Blue Bird train steamed into Grandma's town..." (more)
Key Phrases: cherry tarts, turkey shoot, Miss Butler, Arnold Green, Carleen Lovejoy (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Grandma Dowdel's back! She's just as feisty and terrifying and goodhearted as she was in Richard Peck's A Long Way from Chicago, and every bit as funny. In the first book, a Newbery Honor winner, Grandma's rampages were seen through the eyes of her grandson Joey, who, with his sister, Mary Alice, was sent down from Chicago for a week every summer to visit. But now it's 1937 and Joey has gone off to work for the Civilian Conservation Corps, while 15-year-old Mary Alice has to go stay with Grandma alone--for a whole year, maybe longer. From the very first moment when she arrives at the depot clutching her Philco portable radio and her cat, Bootsie, Mary Alice knows it won't be easy. And it's not. She has to sleep alone in the attic, attend a hick town school where in spite of her worn-out coat she's "the rich girl from Chicago," and be an accomplice in Grandma's outrageous schemes to run the town her own way--and do good while nobody's looking. But being Grandma's sidekick is always interesting, and by the end of the year, Mary Alice has grown to see the formidable love in the heart of her formidable Grandma.

Peck is at his best with these hilarious stories that rest solidly within the American literary tradition of Mark Twain and Bret Harte. Teachers will cherish them as great read-alouds, and older teens will gain historical perspective from this lively picture of the depression years in small-town America. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

From Publishers Weekly
In this hilarious and poignant sequel to A Long Way to Chicago, Peck once again shows that country life is anything but boring. Chicago-bred Mary Alice (who has previously weathered annual week-long visits with Grandma Dowdel) has been sentenced to a year-long stay in rural Illinois with her irrepressible, rough and gruff grandmother, while Joey heads west with the Civilian Conservation Corps, and her parents struggle to get back on their feet during the 1937 recession. Each season brings new adventures to 15-year-old Mary Alice as she becomes Grandma's partner in crime, helping to carry out madcap schemes to benefit friends and avenge enemies. Around Halloween, for example, the woman, armed with wire, a railroad spike and a bucket of glue, outsmarts a gang of pranksters bent on upturning her privy. Later on, she proves just as apt at squeezing change out of the pockets of skinflints, putting prim and proper DAR ladies in their place and arranging an unlikely match between a schoolmarm and a WPA artist of nude models. Between antic capers, Peck reveals a marshmallow heart inside Grandma's rock-hard exterior and adroitly exposes the mutual, unspoken affection she shares with her granddaughter. Like Mary Alice, audience members will breathe a sigh of regret when the eventful year "down yonder" draws to a close. Ages 10-up. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 130 pages
• Publisher: Dial; 6th edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803725183
• ISBN-13: 978-0803725188
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (156 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #300,519 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very fun read, February 8, 2001

By	kennedy19 "kennedy19" (wakefield, ma USA) - See all my reviews

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.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just as good as the first!!!, November 3, 2000

By	Jenni "jenni35" (Louisville, KY USA) - See all my reviews

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".

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Year Down Yonder: Not Far from A Long Way from Chicago, October 9, 2000

By	Dave Richardson (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews

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.