Audience: Older Children, TeensLexile 610The novel is set in 1937 during the depression. 15 year old Mary Alice is forced to leave Chicago because her father is out of work and her parents have to give up their apartment. She arrives by train to her Grandma Dowdel’s sleepy hick town. Upon arriving she is immediately forced to go to school (a school of only 25 students) where she is bullied her very first day. Grandma Dowdel helps exact revenge on this bullying classmate in such a cleverly crafty way that Mary Alice is both amazed and a little scared. There are a series of episodes throughout the book where you witness Grandma manipulate people to get to the greater good and she does so in such ingenious ways.I thought one of the funniest episodes was the pecan tree. Grandma Dowdel had made an arrangement with an elderly gentleman who had a pecan tree on his property that she could have any nuts that fell on the ground. When she went to gather them, there were barely any on the ground…but that didn’t stop Grandma. She went and fired up a tractor and let it run straight into the tree, knocking pecans all over the ground. An honest arrangement is an honest arrangement.Grandma Dowdel was tough, but was superior at reading people. And throughout the book the episodes that seem so funny, actually represent Grandma’s heart. She cares about the people in her town and she fights for what is honest and fair. You see that with Mrs. Abernathy’s blind, paralyzed, war-veteran son, the snobby Mrs. Weidenbach of the DAR, and the visiting artist Arnold Green, whom Grandma (quite visually) pointed to the right woman in town. Mary Alice begins to recognize this and you see the dawning of a new young woman emerge. For example, on page 64…”There were little changes stirring in me. I began to notice how old Grandma was, how hard she worked herself, how far from town she’d roam in the frozen nights, across uneven ground. I began to want to be there with her, to make sure she’d come safely home.” And when the tornado hit town Mary Alice runs from school to Grandma’s house to make sure she’s okay, risking her own life because of her love for Grandma.There were themes of loss, love, bullying, redemption, and coming of age in this novel. I would recommend it to anyone age 11 and up. It was a quick and delightful read.Read-alikes:A Long Way From Chicago – Richard PeckMoon Over Manifest – Clare VanderpoolBetter To Wish – Ann M. Martin
While America is currently experiencing what government officials term an 'economic recession,' those around the country that are experiencing difficult financial times might call it something else. In 1929 when America's stock market crashed, people from New York to California experienced more than an economic recession. It was called The Great Depression and people all over the United States had to make tough choices regarding their way of life. John Steinbeck, a northern California author, wrote about the situation in The Grapes of Wrath. The situations facing most families was anything but comical and most would never wish to experience those moments again. However, sometimes dealing with a tough situation with a bit of humor can lighten the mood and that is exactly the tone of Richard Peck's Newbery Medal book, A Year Down Yonder.Not having read A Long Way From Chicago, (the first book about Mary Alice and the rest of the Dowdels) this was my first glance into the lives of the Dowdel family. Although the residents of this tiny town in Illinois might seem strange to big city folk like those back home in Chicago, they are charming in their down-to-earth attitudes and determination to make the best of sometimes not-so-pleasant situations. It was refreshing to have a look at what life might have been like for teens in the late 1930s as the country was bouncing back from economic disaster and on the eve of entering WWII.Although written for tweens and teens, this adult reader laughed out loud at several points in the story, for example, when Grandma Dowdel hosts the February meeting of the DAR and when Royce comes over to tutor Mary Alice in math. Richard Peck is an amazing author that has a way of telling a story that makes it seem as if it could have happened to someone you know.Continue reading on Examiner.com Review: 'A Year Down Yonder' by Richard Peck - San Francisco Fiction' | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/fiction-in-sa...
What do You think about A Year Down Yonder (2002)?
I have a feeling I might want to click on that fourth star by the end of this review. So, ahem… I immensely enjoyed the wacky yet totally realistic mini-stories in A Long Way From Chicago, so I looked forward to reading the 2001 Newbery winner. It did not disappoint. This time, we get the little sister as our narrator, and Grandma is just as spunky as always, and still makes the same kind of decisions as she did in the first. The last few chapters were drop-dead clever and funny as we see a previously unexplored side of Grandma's personality, and there is a "happily-ever-after" ending (even said so as the last sentence of the book), but this really is some good stuff. I might come back later to add that fourth star, so keep an eye out. UPDATE: Sorry. No fourth star. It probably will be on my reread list pretty soon, though, so I might decide to change it then.
—D.C.
Told in the retrospective voice of Mary Alice. When she was 15 and the depression was in full swing she was sent to live with her eccentric grandmother for a year.The ideas Grandma comes up with and the methods to her madness, especially in putting some of the townspeople in their places is hilarious! I really enjoyed the humor and small town innocence of the book. Well written and lots of fun.Awarded the Newbery Medal for 2001 this book is very deserving of this award.This audio CD would be great for a family road trip or the book could be a fun read aloud. I just may read it to the sixth graders next year.
—Lisa the Librarian
Genre: Contemporary Realism Junior BookSummary: Mary Alice is teenager being sent to live in the country with her grandmother by her parents because of the recession taking place in Chicago. The book describes the crazy, interesting, fun times Mary Alice has living in a small town with her outspoken grandmother.Critique: a) The book’s characters are what make this book amazing. They are complex and dynamic, and dominate the story. The main character, Mary Alice is shown from the beginning as being an observer. She seems to be a side character in most of the incidences she describes, with her grandmother dominating them. The grandmother comes off as aggressive, combative, withdrawn, and not loving in the first part of the book. Mary Alice starts off describing her grandmother as all these things but as the stories come out and life goes on in their household, the stories start to show a more loving side of the grandmother. It turns out that the grandmother’s crazy actions always have a more positive side to the story. She is selfless in an amazing way. She helps others but not in a large, grand gesture way, but in a hard to see way. Mary Alice also changes during the course of the book. Her observing ways are pushed to the side and she starts to take her own part in the story. She helps her grandmother perform selfless acts and starts to take action in her own life. The author uses descriptions and accounts of different incidences to show the development of each character together and apart. As Mary Alice sees her grandmother in a different way, she starts to develop herself and have a real relationship with her grandmother. In the beginning Mary Alice describes her grandmother as being large, someone people are intimidated by, and as someone who is not afraid to pull a shotgun on a person. By the end Mary Alice speaks of her in an approving, admiring way. She even goes so far as to ask her grandmother if she can stay with her for longer. It shows the growth of their relationship and the growth of Mary Alice as a person. Curriculum Connection: A teacher can use this book to talk about the depression and how many families sent their children away to the country. They can talk about the negatives of the war but also put emphasis on the changing characters in the book, by pointing out what Mary Alice learns from moving to the country.
—Ashton Livsey
