- Hardcover: 144 pages
- Publisher: Dial (Jan 25 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0803725183
- ISBN-13: 978-0803725188
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.4 x 1.7 cm
- Shipping Weight: 567 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#451,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #48 in Books > Entertainment > Humour > Rural Life
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
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.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Oh, didn't I feel sorry for myself when the Wabash Railroad's Blue Bird train steamed into Grandma's town. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Oh, didn't I feel sorry for myself when the Wabash Railroad's Blue Bird train steamed into Grandma's town. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Year Down Yonder,
By DarLev (Wilmette, IL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Year Down Yonder (Paperback)
I liked the second book in this series even more than the first becuase it was funnier, catchier and the ending was very happy and nice! In both of the books, it is written from Grandma Dowdel's point of view. She is the funniest, wackiest, coolest Granny in the world...if she really exsisted. I hope that one day not too long from now, a third book will come out and if not, the definetely a movie. Out of all the books I have ever read, these two just about top them all. If I were to suggest any book ever, it would ahve to be one of these. Sometime in the near future, if I have the time, I would love to read these two great books again!!!
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Year Down Yonder,
By Samantha H (Lafayette, LA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Year Down Yonder (Paperback)
A city girl named Mary Alice, moves in with her rigged, cunning Grandmother in the horribly small country town of Wabash, Illinois. Because of the Depression , Mary Alice is sent to live there while her family goes through their own rough time in Chicago. She is forced to adapt to the totally new life style of her grandmother which some would not wish on their worst enemies. Her grandmother has a very rugged way of going about things, that creates quite a stir in this little community. Before long, Mary Alice gets accustomed to her grandmothers tricks and schemes against the towns people and realizes country life isn't that bad after all. I couldn't put this book down the first time I read it because the author writes about their adventures so vividly and exciting. Each trick they play on the town keeps the reader in suspense for the next clever and humorous adventures to come. This book is a laugh-out-loud kind of book so be prepared. This book would be a great book for children to understand the struggles in forming a good relationship between Grandchildren and Grandparents.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Year Down Yonder,
By A Customer
This review is from: A Year Down Yonder (Paperback)
A Year Down Yonder takes place in 1937 and Mary Alice's life is turned upside down due to the recession. Her dad loses his job in Chicago and she has to go stay with her feisty grandmother in a small hick-town. Grandma Dowdel is an isolated woman, but one thing Mary Alice does know about her grandmother is she never knows what kind of scheme she will plan next. As this grandmother and granddaughter spend time together, they experience some interesting episodes and develop a loving relationship. Mary Alice also discovers that behind these outlandish schemes Grandma Dowdel has a good motive to help other people of the community.Richard Peck turns Mary Alice's difficult situation into an amusing story with laugh-out-loud humor. Mary Alice and Grandma Dowdel's sense of humor is expressed through their witty perception of the other characters. The reader is left in suspense wondering what kind of chaos this grandmother and granddaughter will create next. I highly recommend this Newbery Medal winning book to examine a different kind of relationship between grandparents and grandchildren.
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