A Long Way From Chicago & A Year Down Yonder

A Long Way From Chicago and A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck.

These books were recommended to me by my brother. Since A Year Down Yonder is the sequel to A Long Way From Chicago I felt that they should be reviewed together. In a way, the sequel is just the next chapter in the lives of Joey and Mary Alice (although, more so Mary Alice). The characters, especially Grandma Dowdel, jump off the page. Set in the time around and about The Great Depression, there are plenty of historical references scattered throughout in the best way possible - you hardly even realize they are there. They are just part of the story. And Grandma Dowdel is such a complex character. At the beginning of the story, she is almost scary in that she is completely unknown to Joey and Mary Alice. By the end of A Year Down Yonder, she had her grandchildren have formed a very strong bond that none of them had ever imagined.

This is a laugh-out-loud comedy as well as a story of family. You just never know what the heck Gramdma Dowdel is going to do next. Sometimes it seems that she doesn't even know what she is going to do next, but it turns out that she is much more cunning than she ever let on.

Both of these books are fantastic reads and definitely worthy of a second read someday.