Sharon Salluzzo (Children's Literature)
When the recession of 1937 forces her parents out of their Chicago apartment, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice is sent to spend the year with Grandma Dowdel. The vignettes are engaging right from the start, from Mary Alice's first day at school, to "gathering" pecans and pumpkins, to participating in the school Christmas pageant where a live baby suddenly appears, to the day in the spring when Maxine Patch runs out of Grandma's wearing nothing but a snake. Mary Alice slowly begins to appreciate her formidable grandmother, who makes her own rules and metes out her own form of justice. In this sequel to A Long Way from Chicago, Peck doesn't miss a beat. His characters are fully realized and stay with the reader long after the story ends. There is plenty of humor throughout the book. Readers will find themselves laughing at the small town characters, the events orchestrated by Grandma, and sometimes, simply at the way Peck has recounted an incident. There are many poignant moments as well. Altogether, a heartwarming and rewarding story. The book can be read independent of A Long Way from Chicago. 2000, Dial, $16.99. Ages 9 to 12.

Susie Wilde (Children's Literature)
A Year down Yonder seems more a companion than a sequel to Peck's 1999 Newbery Honor book, A Long Way from Chicago. Peck shows his brilliance in setting up parallel structures and creating two very different books. In the first book, Joey and his younger sister, Mary Alice spend a series of summers with their cantankerous, eccentric grandmother and Joey tells the story. The second book takes place in 1927. Joey is working with the CCC planting trees out west, their father is out of work, and sixteen-year-old Mary Alice must spend a year with her grandmother enrolled in a hick school. There is continuity of place and character in both books. The small town's culture is still the same, those who are snobby have no right to be, those who have no money are rich in some way, and everyone fears Mary Alice's grandmother. Mary Alice's voice and sensibilities are different than Joey's. Her voice is softer, more poetic and inquisitive. As much as Joey loves his grandmother, his understanding comes in glimpses and never runs quite as deep as Mary Alice's perceptions. Shared history and gender has allowed Mary Alice to understand and trust her grandmother's Robin Hood style of justice. She knows the deserving always receive a big slice of pie, whether it is pecan or humble. There are still wonderful similes and colorful dialogue, especially coming from Grandma. She sums out whole stories in a vivid sentence, or two. "When I was a girl," she tells Mary Alice, "a tornado hit an outdoor band concert. It twisted the tuba player four feet into the ground like a corkscrew before we could get help to him." These are the lines that make you laugh out loud. When Mary Alice questions her grandmother about the age of an ancient woman, she answers, "You would have to cut off her head and count the rings in her neck." Soon Mary Alice begins to see, think and talk like her grandmother. From pithy, startling analyses like the time she sizes up a bully and declares, "If you are going to read minds, start with a simple one," to her last tender and surprising comment about her Grandmother who has eyes in the back of her heart, this artist has created a satisfying follow-up. 2000, Dial Books, $16.99. Ages 10 up.

Jan Lieberman (Children's Literature)
The year's most outrageous and daring character is Grandma Dowdel in Richard Peck's A Year down Yonder, the 2001 Newbery Medal winner. Grandma is a feisty, no-nonsense woman who knows the entire town's history and secrets, which she uses judiciously and at the right time. Halloween pranksters take a pasting when they try to throw over her outhouse--she brews her own glue. The aristocratic DAR is at Grandma's mercy when they lust after her cherry tarts for their February meeting. The results will be fodder for the gossip mongers for years to come. Mary Alice, age 15, who hated the idea of spending a year with her grandma, learns to love this resourceful lady, who hides her own tender feelings behind a gruff image. Quotable Grandma--"I'm so hungry, my stomach's flapping against my backbone." 2000, Dial, $16.99. Ages 10 up.

CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, 2001)
Fifteen-year-old Mary Alice has never felt entirely comfortable around her eccentric Grandma Dowdel, and she feels even less comfortable in the small town Grandma Dowdel calls home. But when Mary Alice must spend all of 1937 living there, she finds she can adjust by taking a cue from her hard-working, scrappy grandmother. Each chapter introduces an engaging episode in Mary Alice's life with her Grandma: she watches Grandma get even with Halloween pranksters, gets the lead role in the Christmas program at school, and helps Grandma begrudgingly host a meeting of the DAR. Peck's judicious use of hyperbole and exaggeration, both in the narrative and in the dialogue, gives the novel the feeling of an American tall tale, but he doesn't overdo it, so the characters and place feel real in this sequel to A Long Way from Chicago (Dial, 1998). CCBC categories: Fiction for Young Adults; Historical People, Places, and Events. 2000, Dial, 130 pages, $16.99. Ages 12 and older.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2000 (Vol. 68, No. 18))
Set in 1937 during the so-called "Roosevelt recession," tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn't "even have a picture show." This winning sequel takes place several years after "A Long Way From Chicago "(1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with "eyes in the back of her heart." Peck's slice-of-life novel doesn't have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader's interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn't an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language--"She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites"--and Mary Alice's shrewd, prickly observations: "Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city." Year-round fun. 2000, Dial, $16.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 11 to 13. © 2000 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Claire Rosser (KLIATT Review, January 2001 (Vol. 35, No. 1))
Because of a recession in 1937, Mary Alice's family is once more in financial difficulties. Her brother Joey goes out West with the Civilian Conservation Corps and Mary Alice is sent again to her grandmother's house in a small town in Illinois. Now she is 15 years old and must attend the tiny high school where the girls are bitterly competitive. The chapters read like vignettes, offering amusing stories of the eccentric grandmother, who truly seems to enjoy getting the town in an uproar. One escapade is more outlandish than another. The one that stands out is an episode when Mary Alice gets up the nerve to ask the one handsome boy in her class to come over to help her with her math. The two are self-consciously trying to find things to say when suddenly there are shrieks from the attic and the naked postmistress comes racing down the stairs and out the door--with a live snake draped around her body. It seems that the boarder, an artist, was using the woman as a model when a snake (which grandmother encouraged to live in the rafters to keep the bird population in check) landed on the woman's body to create the chaos. "Grandma worked around her to get the front door open. With a scream and a hiss, Maxine and the snake leaped through it. They did a fast Hawaiian hula off the porch and skimmed around the snowball bushes, making for town. That's too good a show to keep to ourselves,' Grandma said." The potential boyfriend edged to the door. "Well, I probably ought to get going,' he said. But...thanks. It was a real interesting afternoon. I never saw a __' But now he was gone...and all my hopes went with him." By the end of the school year, the relationship between Mary Alice and her grandmother has changed beyond recognition, and Mary Alice feels that she is in her true home. This kind of humor is what Peck can do so well - small-town shenanigans. He is describing a completely different world, one long past, but he certainly makes it interesting. (Sequel to a Long Way from Chicago). KLIATT Codes: J--Recommended for junior high school students. 2000, Penguin Putnam/Dial, 130p, 99-34159, $16.99. Ages 13 to 15.

Sheila Gullickson (The ALAN Review, Spring 2001 (Vol. 28, No. 3))
This sequel to Newbery Honor book, A Long Way from Chicago, focuses on Mary Alice's junior year of high school and her deepening bond with her feisty Grandma Dowdel in rural Illinois. Mary Alice and her family are living in Chicago, where they are trying to get back on their feet after feeling the effects of the Great Depression. The most intriguing character is clearly the wise and very unconventional grandma, a Depression-era Robin Hood who continues to embarrass and outsmart locals most deserving of her tricks and to help those most needy without making them feel that she has done them a favor. Several other adult characters and a handful of classmates round out this story, including Royce McNabb, another newcomer to the community who announces at the end of the school year that he'll write to Mary Alice from the University of Illinois. In an afterward, Mary Alice returns to Grandma Dowdell's house for her wedding to Royce, which occurs during World War II. She ends the story by telling the reader, "We lived happily ever after." An odd ending to an otherwise entertaining, light read about everyday life as managed by people who survived the Great Depression. Genre: Historical/Growing-Up/Family 2000, Dial, 120 pp., $16.99. Ages 9 up.Moorhead, Minnesota

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, January 2001 (Vol. 54, No. 5))
In this sequel to A Long Way from Chicago (BCCB 10/98), Mary Alice, now fifteen, is exiled to her grandmother’s house while her parents ride out a rough year of the Great Depression. Grandma Dowdel is as irascible as ever, using home- baked pies and home-brewed glue to wreak vengeance on a Halloween prankster with designs on her outhouse, shamelessly shaking down the neighbors for donations to support a widow and her invalid son, exposing family connections between a snooty member of the local DAR and the illegitimate offspring of the town “trash,” and thwarting the romantic designs of the postmistress-turned-nude-model on a WPA muralist. Mary Alice proves here to be as engaging a narrator as her older brother Joey has been, and once again disparate episodes are cunningly joined together by the adolescent’s steady realization that a deep well of tenderness lies beneath Grandma’s formidable exterior (“She knew me through and through. She had eyes in the back of her heart”). Readers who enjoyed Joey and Mary Alice’s last visit will find this trip equally satisfying. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2001, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2000, Dial, 130p, $16.99. Grades 5-8.

Michelle Wehrwein-Albion (The Five Owls, January/February 2001 (Vol. 15, No. 3))
Things can't get much worse, or can they? The year is 1937. The Great Depression seems like it will never end. Times are hard, especially for Mary Alice. Her parents' job will not allow her to live with them, so she's being sent to spend the year with Grandma Dowdel. As she climbs aboard the Blue Bird train, she overhears her mother mutter, "Better you than me." She had been to Grandma Dowdel's before but always with her brother Joey, and then those visits were only for a week. But, this was going to be a whole long year in a hick town away from the excitement of Chicago. She would not be able to see her parents or Joey, and worst of all, Mary Alice was going to be alone with Grandma Dowdel. Everyone in town knows Grandma and seems to fear her looming presence. And no wonder. Physically she's large, with a corresponding personality. She's intimidating, imposing, and frankly a bit odd. If Mary Alice had forgotten, she is reminded upon her arrival at the train station where, after a brisk greeting, she's whisked away and, without even the chance to unpack, is taken directly to school. Things don't get much better, with a school devoid of boys and brimming with cliquey girls. But after some initial challenges, she warms to small town living, and her grandmother. Grandma Dowdel is full of surprises. She knows how to deal with bullies--a method involving delicacies from her larder, a pair of boots, and a stolen horse. She is also very creative in acquiring pecans for a pie--some pluck and an old farm tractor required. But mostly Mary Alice learns the endearing qualities behind her grandmother's eccentric behavior. Before she knows it, she feels like she's becoming Grandma Dowdel, and she doesn't mind at all. Richard Peck is a well-known writer with more than two dozen children's books to his credit. The prequil to A Year Down Yonder, called A Long Way from Chicago (Dial, 1998), earned him a 1999 Newbery Honor Award. His new work promises more accolades. Unlike many sequels, the second book stands firmly on its own. In fact, his characters and sense of place are even stronger in this second book. Especially impressive is his ability to depict Grandma Dowdel's stronger character traits as assets, rather than flaws. Further, he seems to have an innate understanding of the young mind--and heart--making his female characters real and engaging. But if this doesn't win you over to A Year Down Yonder, the book is also deliciously funny. Peck interweaves humor into his delightfully unpredictable plots. But parents should be strongly cautioned, their children should not read the book alone. Why should they have all the fun? 2000, Dial, $16.99. Ages 8 to 12.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2001)
This satisfying sequel to A Long Way from Chicago is narrated by fifteen-year-old Mary Alice, who is living with her formidable grandma Dowdel during the 1937 recession. While these stories don't have the cumulative power of the first book, Peck again presents memorable characters, and his subdued humor is much in evidence. Those looking to be entertained by Grandma Dowdel will enjoy this visit. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2000, Dial, 130pp, $16.99. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

Virginia Gleaton (The Lorgnette - Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 13, No. 3))
This is truly a wonderful book. The story centers around a girl who is sent to her grandmother's because her parents had to take a live- in job, and she couldn't go with them. The young girl is about fifteen, from Chicago, and must go to a small town in Illinois. The young girl is very leery of her grandmother. The grandmother is quite a character. Everyone in the small town seems to be afraid of her. Mary Alice finds out that regardless of her grandmother's appearance or actions, she is a great friend and grandparent. Mary Alice learns the truth about her grandmother, and the reader gets the message that Mary Alice would do good to be like her. Peck does a great job of conveying the feelings of both the characters. Grades 5 and up. 2000, Dial, 130p, $16.99. Ages 10 up.

Teri Lesesne (VOYA, December 2000 (Vol. 23, No. 5))
Sequels are a tricky business. Many are pale companions to their originals. With a skillful writer such as Peck, however, sequels can shine and sparkle with new life. Such is the case with this sequel to his Newbery Honor-winning A Long Way from Chicago (Dial, 1998/VOYA December 1998). The year is 1937, and the aftermath of the Great Depression is still being felt by the Dowdel family. Reluctantly, the Dowdels decide to send Mary Alice to live with Grandma for a year. Mary Alice barely has been able to endure summers with Grandma in the company of her older brother. How will she survive a year in this hick town by herself? Present in this hilarious tale are the requisite "villains"--young boys wreaking havoc on Halloween, snooty women who dare to leave Grandma out of their plans, and others too blind to see Grandma as a more than formidable opponent in any fight. Told in a series of interlocking stories as was the first book, the novel never loses its charming sense of humor even though the vignettes ultimately deal with important issues such as class, gossip, and friendship. This book will make an excellent read-aloud to middle school classes. History teachers might want to share a story or two from the novel as a lead-in to the discussion of the society of the Great Depression and the recession that followed. VOYA CODES: 5Q 3P M (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8). 2000, Dial, 144p, $16.99. Ages 11 to 14.