A Year Down Yonder (Newbery Medal Book)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0803725183 ISBN 13: 9780803725188

Publisher: Dial Books, 2000

Winner of the Newbery Medal
 
“Peck charms readers once again with this entertaining sequel to A Long Way from Chicago”—School Library Journal (starred review)

It was within the pages of Richard Peck's Newbery Honor-winning A Long Way from Chicago that Mary Alice and Grandma Dowdel first made their captivating debut. Now they're back for more astonishing, laugh-out-loud tales when fifteen-year-old Mary Alice moves in with her spicy grandmother for the year. Expect moonlit schemes, romances both foiled and founded, and a whole parade of fools made to suffer in unusual (and always hilarious) ways.

Wise, exuberant, and slyly heartwarming, this is a satisfying companion to Grandma Dowdel’s adventures in A Long Way from Chicago and A Season of Gifts. 

Newbery Medal Winner
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
ALA Notable Book
Booklist Best Books of the Year
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
New York Times Best Seller
 
“Audience members will breathe a sigh of regret when the eventful year "down yonder" draws to a close.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“Wit, gentleness, and outrageous farce.”—Booklist (starred review)

 

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 the Inside Flap:

Read by Lois Smith
3 hours 40 minutes, 2 cassettes

Mary Alice and Grandma Dowdel return for more astonishing, laugh-out-loud adventures when fifteen-year-old Mary Alice moves in with her spicy grandmother for the year. Her extended visit is filled with moonlit schemes, romances both foiled and founded, and a whole parade of fools made to suffer in unusual (and always hilarious) ways.

Wise, exuberant, and slyly heartwarming, Mary Alice's story is a fully satisfying companion to the celebrated A Long Way from Chicago.