A Year Down Yonder

Title: A Year Down Yonder
Author: Richard Peck
(C) 2000
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
ISBN: 0-439-43842-X
130 pp.

It's been a few days and I haven't had a chance to read anything. I'm currently in the middle of setting up the church library. Thankfully that's almost done. Well, since I haven't had much time, I thought I'd pull a few books down that I had read before. The next three are all by Richard Peck, one of my favorite historical fiction authors.

Our main character, Mary Alice Dowdel, is living in Chicago in 1937. It's the time of another recession, forcing parents and children to make some interesting choices. For Mary Alice, that means going to live in a tiny town with her Grandmother.

As the cover suggest, she takes the train "down yonder" with her Philco radio in one hand and her cat, Bootsie, in the other. As she says right off in chapter 2, "Everybody in this town knew everything about you. They knew things that hadn't even happened yet." (p. 9). The books details the trials and tribulations of a year spent in a new place with an old women set solidly in her ways. But it's the antics of Grandma Dowdel that keep the story moving along - from stealing "punkins" to a snake in the attic - this book will have you rolling on the floor.

Still, woven into the humor is a novel that speaks of learning from the past, knowing how to face the world, and having a strong sense of family. Grandma Dowdel was just what sheltered Mary Alice needed at this time in her life. Though she dreaded living there, in the end, she didn't want to leave. But as Grandma said, "It'll be alright. I don't lock my doors." (p. 128)

If you're looking for a quick read that makes you laugh and cry with each turn of the page, try this one. And for more Grandma Dowdel stories, look for A Long Way from Chicago and A Season for Gifts.