Do your parents make you go to Grandma’s house every year? Is your Grandma a crook? Well, Joe’s parents make him, and he has to ride a rusty old airplane at a fair!
If you want to find out if Joe makes it or if the plane crashes you’ll have to read the book. ( )

This book tells the stories of a crazy grandma through the eyes of her grandchildren. This is a good book to act out as a reader's theatre.

This is a book about a brother and sister from Chicago who go a visit there grandmother. Everytime they go there is a new adventure and story. I would have students act out scences from this book or even add on their own chapter. A very funny book that students will enjoy.

This is a great book. I read for lit circle group and it was my favorite of all the books I read.

This Newberry Honor Book kis about two children,l Joey and Mary Alice who live in Chicago during the early 1930s. When they are nine and seven respectively, they begin spending a week each August with Grandma Dowdell in a small rural town somewhere in Illinois. Each chapter is full of funny, amazing and eye-opening adventures. For the next seven years, there is never a dull moment as they learn many of life's lessons from their wise, though sometimes eccentric, grandmother. From the first summer where Grandma shoots a dead body to the last summer where they get to meet a real life war hero, the book takes you through many delightful twists and turns.

This book reminded me of when I was young and my summers that were spent with my grandparents. My grandmother was much like Grandma Dowdell. It seemed like every day, simple activities all taught an important lesson that I didn't recognize at the time but still find myself applying today. The author made it easy to identify with the endearing characters, and it was written in an easy-to-understand manner. At times, I actually laughed out loud.

As an extension, this book could be used as an example of growing up during the depression era. Also, each child could relate a story about an adventure with a grandparent or elderly adult. If possible, the teacher could invite an older person to visit the class and share stories of their childhood. The teacher could also compare and contrast to how children grow up today and the differences in modern conveniences.

750 L
Ficton, Historical

This is the story of two children from Chicago and their grandmother from a very small rural town. The siblings spent two weeks every summer with Grandma. When they were very young, the trip was not looked forward to, but, as they grew older, they became more appreciative of her. Many colorful stories are related in this book.

I loved this book. The grandmother was very crusty and non-conforming, she reminded me of my own mother. The grandmother worked hard and understood so much more than her grandchildren thought she did. How unfortunate we don't take advantage of our grandparents when they are young enough to enjoy us.

This story would be great for children who don't have grandparents, to understand how valuable they are. This would be good for learning about small town life. ( )

A 1999 Newbery Honor award winning book that I absolutely loved!

This is a touching, memorable walk down memory lane told from the perspective of 15 year old Joey Dowdel. This book was written before Peck's 2001 Newbery Medal winner A Year Down Yonder.

Each chapter is a separate story of a summer spent with Joey and his sister Alice who travel from Chicago to rural Illinois to visit their down and out, no frills, salt-of-the earth grandmother.

As I read these stories spanning seven wonderful summers, I was moved to tears and laughter. The author wove accurate historical depiction of troubled economic times in the US. There is a marvelous feeling of the folk who quibble, but hang in there together.

While living a hermit like existence, Granny Dowdel still has knowledge of the pulse of the town and the quirky personalities of the members. She is incredibly inventive in exposing the hyprocrites, finding ways of helping those less fortunate, and in leaving a legacy of laughter and memories to her grandchildren.

A must read. ( )

Just to start, having spent some months in Chicago, I think being a long ways from there is a good idea. No one but farmers should have to put up with that kind of weather. My sister-in-law and then my mother-in-law recommended these books. I was especially happy to see them at the library. This is not the type of book I would just pick up to read, mostly because they take place during the Depression and I have learned to avoid those type because Depression seems to be an accurate description of most books set in that time period.
The characters of the novel are what set it apart. Not only is the Grandmother hysterically funny, but the first person narrative voice of the child is very genuine. It was hard to believe that these books were fiction. They felt so real that you wanted them to be real.
I read a lot of YA fiction and this was the first time I have ever wished that a book was written for young people. The first person narrator is a child, and sees the other characters, especially his grandmother, as a child sees her. All we know of the Grandmother is what this boys sees of her. We know very little of her history, what made her such a formidable figure. The next book, while showing a girl's perspective on Grandma, still has the limitations of the voice. Reading this book as a child, or even as a teenager, I don't think I would notice a lack. But as an adult woman I want to know more about Grandma. I want to know when she married, where she grew up, how many kids she had. What made her such a strong woman, one who cares for the people on the edges and tries not to show it?
Grandma was the heart and soul of the books and I want to know more about her. I suppose it shows how good the books are that I have these questions. I laughed at the stories, and would definitely recommend them, especially to a teen reader, but I sure wish there was an adult version somewhere. ( )

I listened to this book on my MP3 player (downloaded it from library) and found it extremely funny. I LOL listening to it. It s an old fashioned funny story set in the early 1900's. Though I believe it is considered a childrens book, I found it to be a delightful and a really fun 'read' . ( )

This 1999 Newbery Honor Book is “a novel in stories” of humorous happenings during the week-long visits two Chicago children, Joey and Mary Alice, made to their Grandma Dowdel's rural Illinois home during the Depression years of 1929 through 1935.

I was born in the Chicago suburb where my dad grew up and my grandparents lived for many years, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins still live in that area. Some of my ancestors were from Springfield, Illinois. They owned a haberdashery and sold a hat to Abraham Lincoln, so the story where Grandma Dowdel tries to pass off a stovepipe hat from her attic as his rang true to me.

I found Grandma Dowdel to be the most interesting character. In his Newbery acceptance speech, Peck described Grandma Dowdel as “the American tall tale in a Lane Bryant dress. There’s more than a bit of Paul Bunyan about her, and a touch of the Native American trickster tradition; she may just be Kokopelli without the flute.”

In the December 2001/January 2002 issue of The Reading Teacher, Peck said she “is the great American tradition I came from. She is all of my great aunts, and while she is not much like my grandmother—except physically—all were imposing women…It was a matriarchy, and Grandma Dowdel represents that. Notice she is often cooking? To her, that is not a subservient role, that is feeding the world…Their kitchens were their temples.”

“Joey expresses his awe at the power of a mighty grandmother and, perhaps, of all women,” Peck says in the Newbery acceptance speech. “Mary Alice tells of finding in an unexpected place the role model for the rest of her life.”

This book could have been set in just about any rural small town in the country during 1929-1935. I think the humor in the book would be enjoyed by both boys and girls about age 9 and up (reading level is about grade 4.6-5.0).

[A variation of this review appears in my blog, Bookin' It.] ( )

Richad Peck is a fantastic author. He can spin a yarn as effectively as any author. His characters have the eccentric personalities of Dickens characters. ( )

The style of this book is effective because each story builds the reader's knowledge from the last story. Each chapter is from another year so as the characters grow, the detail in the stories change. The reader gets to know Grandma Dowdel as Joey and Mary Alice get to know her.
This is an example of historical fiction because the story takes place in 1929-1935. The stories are written as if it still was that time period.
Media: N/A ( )

great characters!

This book is made up of several short stories about Joey and Mary Alice's summer visits to their Grandma Dowdel's home in a small Illinois town during the Great Depression. The stories are all beautifully written, evoking small town life and all its little quirks. Grandma Dowdel is a larger-than-life character whose eccentricities will guarantee her a spot in every reader's memories. After all, who could forget a woman who would calmly pass the sheriff by in his stolen rowboat with a basket full of illegal fish caught on private land? The book will leave readers with a vivid picture of small town life in the early twentieth century, and more importantly will have you wishing you could spend a hot summer week following Grandma Dowdel, watching to see what she'll do next. ( )

Children's Literature Review:
Sequel: A year down yonder.
A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.

Sharon Salluzzo (Children's Literature)
Each summer during the Great Depression, Joey and his sister Mary Alice board a train in Chicago and travel halfway to St. Louis to visit their grandma in a small town in Illinois. There they meet an interesting cast of characters, from the corpse of Shotgun Cheatham, to the bad Cowgill boys who blow up mailboxes and overturn outhouses, to Vandalia Eubanks and the phantom brakeman. Every year they learn a little more about their spunky grandmother through her unusual and intriguing interactions with the townsfolk. Peck brings the time period to life through small details, such as selecting a bottle of orange soda from a "sheet-metal vat of ice water with a bottle opener hanging down on a piece of twine," as well as via major symbols of the time such as drifters, gangsters, and that new mode of transportation, the airplane. Warmly nostalgic, beautifully written, humorous, and full of thought-provoking interpersonal relationships. 1998, Dial, $15.99. Ages 9 to 12.

Best Books:
Adventuring with Books: A Booklist for Pre-K--Grade 6, 12th Edition, 1999 ; National Council of Teachers of English; United States
Best Books for Young Adults, 1999 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
The Best Children's Books of the Year, 1999 ; Bank Street College of Education; United States
Booklist Book Review Stars, September 1, 1998 ; United States
Books for You: An Annotated Booklist for Senior High, Fourteenth Edition, 2001 ; National Council of Teachers of English; United States
Books in the Middle: Outstanding Books, 1998 ; Voice of Youth Advocates; United States
Books to Read Aloud to Children of All Ages, 2003 ; Bank Street College of Education; United States
Capitol Choices, 1998 ; The Capitol Choices Committee; United States
Children's Books of Distinction, 1999 ; Riverbank Review; United States
Children's Books on Aging, 2004 ; ALSC American Library Association; United States
Children's Catalog, Eighteenth Edition, 2001 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Children's Catalog, Nineteenth Edition, 2006 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
The Children's Literature Choice List, 1999 ; Children's Literature; United States
Fanfare Honor List, 1998 ; Horn Book; United States
Kirkus Book Review Stars, 1998 ; United States
Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Ninth Edition, 2005 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Middle And Junior High School Library Catalog, Eighth Edition, 2000 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Notable Books for Children, 1999 ; American Library Association-ALSC; United States
Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts, 1999 ; National Council of Teachers of English; United States
Parent's Guide to Children's Media, 1999 ; Parent’s Guide to Children’s Media, Inc.; United States
Recommended Literature: Kindergarten through Grade Twelve, 2002 ; California Department of Education; California
School Library Journal Book Review Stars, October 1998 ; Cahners; United States
Young Adults' Choices, 2000 ; International Reading Association; United States ( )

I read his Blossom Culp books when I was in junior high/high school. I enjoyed them and remembered them for years afterwards. But, lately, (within the past six/seven years) Peck has been writing stories that deal with coming of age in rural/midwestern America in the second half of the 19th c or the first half of the 20th. As an adult, I find these stories amazing and ones that I have read again and again. Don't know how much the kids would enjoy them, though. And in an international school setting, most of the students just don't have the frame of reference to understand the humor or the time period. I just finished The Teacher's Funeral: a Comedy in Three Parts. It takes place in Indiana in 1904. Has a boy as the main character who likes to cause trouble. When the schoolteacher dies, his older sister takes over. As with Fair Weather and Long Way from Chicago and Year Down Yonder, it's not the plot that is important. It's the characters. Peck's plots are always strong and he has a deft touch with comedy, but his characters are amazing. You get to know them so quickly and get attached. I read Long Way From Chicago before I moved to Holland. It won a Newbery Honor and I used it as a read aloud with 3rd grade. The sequel to it, Year Down Yonder, came out and won the Newbery award, but I didn't read it for some reason when it first appeared. I bought it to take with me and the first time I read it, I was sitting alone in my new apartment with no furniture. I soaked through it in a couple of hours. Even though I had built up all this anticipation in my head about this book, it still exceeded anything I had hoped for. I probably read it not quite once a year and still think it's one of the best stories out there.
Originally posted April 3, 2005

Joey and his younger sister Mary Alice go to visit their grandma in rural Illinois in the 1930s. In a series of hilarious stories, their grandma plots revenge on a band of prank-playing brothers, bakes gooseberry pie for the state fair, and causes general upheaval in her small town. The narration of the audio recording is great. Ron McLarty does great voices, including a fantastic voice for Grandma. Laugh out loud funny, this is a painless historical fiction to recommend to students and the cd is appropriate for family listening. ( )

Unfortunately I read A Year Down Yonder first (I hate reading serial books in reverse order). Already familiar with what an eccentric character Grandma Dowdel is, I was pleasantly surprised that many of her antics made me drop my jaw or laugh out loud. While this book is technically YA and is narrated by a child, it doesn't read that way because everything revolves around Grandma's kooky adventures. I also liked how the book read as a series of short stories (with the same characters) instead of having a central plot. Highly recommended, even to those adults who don't like kiddie lit. ( )

Every summer during the Great Depression (nine years), Joey and his sister are sent from their home in Chicago to visit their grandmother in a small town in Illinois. Grandma turns out to be quite a character, and their summer vacations are much more interesting than expected. ( )

A soft, funny story about Joey and Mary Alice visiting their excentric grandma for the summer. ( )

Set in the 1930's primarily, a brother and sister leave the big city (Chicago) to visit their grandmother in rural downstate Illinois. This is a charming and humorous snapshot of life in a small town.

So delightful I read the sequel, A Year Down Yonder. ( )

If only I had a Grandma like this! This is a great story for kids. ( )

A very pleasing story. I liked the way the author showed us the grandmother through the boys eyes and every year he visited, he understood a bit more of who she was and why she did what she did. As far as morals, I'm afraid this promotes "the end justifies the means", although the grandma's means never hurt any one, just deceive them a bit. ( )