A Year Down Yonder is about Mary Alice. She is 15 years old and living just after the Great Depression of the 1930's. Mary Alice lives in Chicago with her mother, father, and older brother. The economy in Chicago is still doing badly, so Mary Alice is sent to live with her grandmother in the country in Illinois. Lots of things happen to Mary Alice and her grandmother is always in the middle of it. Crazy antics ensue and Mary Alice learns many lessons.

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. I wonder why I haven't found it sooner. The wild and funny things that happen will keep readers laughing and wanting more. I couldn't wait to turn the page to find out what Grandma Dowdle had up her sleeve next. From keeping a snake in the attic to catch the birds to pouring glue on the Principal's son's head, Mary Alice and her Grandmother never seem to have a dull moment and readers will enjoy that.

This book mentions the Great Depression. Being from Oklahoma, we have learn at an early age how the Great Depression affected us, but this book can provide us a look at how other places were affected as well. This book also talks about how Mary Alice and her Grandmother shop for clothes out of a catalog. You could talk to students about the way things have changed since the 1930s. Clothing was shopped for out of catalogs, people rode on trains instead of in cars, and letters were written instead of text messages sent.

“A Year Down Yonder” is a Newbery Honor, contemporary realistic fiction set in the time period of the American Great Depression. The story is told by a 15 year old girl, Mary Alice. Mary Alice’s father has lost his job. Mary Alice, her brother Joey, and their parents had to move into a “light housekeeping” room which was only large enough for two people. Joey was sent out west to the Civilian Conservation Corps to work and Mary Alice was sent to live with Grandma Dowdel in a “hick-town.” Grandma didn’t have a telephone and you had to go outdoors to the “privy.” Mary Alice develops a special relationship with her trigger-happy, out spoken, no nonsense grandmother. After a year with her grandmother, Mary Alice no longer wanted to go back to the city when her mother and dad sent for her. She had found the charm in the small country town through its people and its customs. She had discovered the special love she and her grandmother had for each other.

I thought this book was very deserving of the Newbery Medal. The story is told in the first person with a definite tone for the time period and “country style” of living. The conflicts between Mary Alice and her schoolmates, between Mary Alice and loneliness, between Mary Alice and the world created by the Great Depression, are all treated with the seriousness in which they are felt. However, the author manages to introduce humor through out the story to allow the reader to laugh and feel a sense of hope. Just as the book’s ending was a perfect ending so was the resolution to every conflict.

In a classroom a teacher can use the book to demonstrate the different life styles and cultures within a small towns and city located in same state. The students could tell about their own family’s customs and how they are different to other families they know. The book could be used to support discussion about extended members of a family and how they can be an important part of the students’ lives. Each student could draw a picture of the members of their families with whom they live. The picture could also show other extended family members that are important to the student but may not live with them.

In 1937, Mary Alice leaves Chicago to spend a year with her ornery grandmother in a small town. Effects of the Great Depression are deftly woven into a bildungsroman, in which Mary Alice learns to care for other people (while still demonstrating 15-year-oldness by choosing the Cuban heeled shoes from Sears-Roebuck).

The engaging story draws the reader into small town 1930s American life. "A Year Down Yonder" is actually a sequel to an earlier book featuring the same characters. This would be a good recommendation for later elementary readers, but frankly, many of Peck's other works may be preferred by young readers. The parallels between life during the Great Depression and life during our current recession could lead to some good class discussion among upper elementary or middle school students. ( )

A person in the depression spends a year "down yonder."

A Year Down Yonder
This is a quick and funny book to read. The story takes place right after the depression in 1937. Mary Alice's father has lost his job in Chicago and her parents have to get a new apartment. Mary Alice, 15, is sent to live with her Grandma Dowdel because money is tight. She used to come one week each summer with her brother Joey. But he is off planting trees for the government. When Mary Alice gets to her grandmother's hick town in Southern Illinois he has to learn to make new friends in the local high school. She has a rough start because all the girls think that she is the "rich girl from Chicago". Mary Alice states, "If I am so rich, why am I here. Mary Alice goes through different adventures with her crazy grandmother. They steal pecans and pumpkins to make pies for the school Halloween party, they booby trap the backyard so that the local boys can't knock down the outhouse, or "privy", and they rent the extra room to a starving artist from New York City. Mary Alice even goes through her first tornado. But aside from the adventures, she sees that her grandmother cares about the people in her town. Grandma Dowdel does what she can to make sure that no one goes without.

This book was a very quick and enjoyable read. It picked up right where A Long Way From Chicago left off. I would recommend this book to anyone needing a historical fiction book or just a good laugh regardless of whether or not they had read the prequel! I would like to have this in my collection of reading selections for both my fifth and sixth graders because it is easier to read and yet has great literary and historical value. This would even been a great book for teachers to read aloud to fourth graders with much emphasis on the funny "hick" style language. I also wanted to note that this was one of the three books that I chose as a Reader Choice Book for my Cameron university Intermediate Literature class. I selected fifth grade as the grade most desirable to present it.
Extension Activities in the classroom or at home can include naming at least 5 real people found in the story (examples: Kate Smith; Admiral Byrd). Have the student find out more information on these real folks. Have your students do a mini-report. Also there were several references on
such things as the CCC; WPA; Depression, etc. that students could report on or do a collage on or poster. ALSO: Keep a list of similes/metaphors found in the book (Example: cool as a cucumber; like a woodpecker with palsy). Several things could then be done
with the list. Collect some from the class members. Have them use the sayings
in a story or list how many things could be "cool as a cucumber'). RESEARCH THE GOODS: A question I had as I was reading the book was: "Were there sneakers (tennis shoes?) in those days?" If so, did they call them sneakers? My mother grew-up in that time frame and she never mentioned it. There are also several other things I questioned (Lane Bryant; paper plates; switchblades; paper doilies). Have the students check some of these questions out on the Internet or in the library or by interviewing seniors who were alive during that time frame. ( )