Customer Reviews
A Year Down Yonder 
2008-06-13
While this is a sequel to A Long Way from Chicago, it can easily be read and enjoyed on its own. Richard Peck writes the adventures of Mary Alice, spending a year away from her home in depression-era Chicago at her grandmother's house in the country. While grandma Dowdel is gruff and no-nonsense, she soon enlists Mary Alice in her schemes to influence neighbors - some who are friends, some who are enemies. This hilarious book is great to read aloud, and it will leave both adults and kids in stitches.
Very Nice 2008-02-28
This is one of the best books I have ever read, and cried at the end.
Wonderful book 2008-02-12
My daughter had to read A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck for her 8th grade English class. We both read the book and both enjoyed it. We loved the characters, especially the grandmother. This is a wonderful book for young readers!
Fabulous read aloud 2008-01-13
I read this aloud to my students each year and they LOVE it. Not only does it lead to discussions of the Great Depression and new vocabulary, it allows my students to see that a character, like Grandma Dowdel, is seldom one dimensional and can surprise the reader with her deep affection as well as her steely determination. Thank you, Mr. Peck, for this wonderful book and A Long Way from Chicago.
A Well-Written Book by Richard Peck 
2007-12-01
I just read the book A Year Down Yonder, by Richard Peck. The book is about 15 year old Chicago girl, Mary Alice, living in the Roosevelt recession. Mary has to move in with her outspoken, trigger-happy, grandmother because her parents can't afford to rent a big enough home.
Mary's first impression of her grandmother is much like everyone else's. She thinks she is quite odd. But once she gets to know her she finds out her grandmother is really a strong, brave, secure, caring, woman.
Mary and her grandmother have many adventures. They do everything from trapping foxes to baking pies. This sequel to the Newbery Honor-winning book A Long Way From Chicago is very well written and I enjoyed reading it very much.
By Val Charter (age 11)
A Year Down Yonder 2007-10-11
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.
wonderful story, great performance 2007-08-31
We loved this story and the reader, Lois Smith, did a fabulous job. Her voice was perfect for the part and the story itself was just charming. Richard Peck is an exceptional author, creating a very believable (fictional) memoir of a girl growing up in Illinois during the depression, told in the first person. The character of Grandma Dowdel is someone you just grow to love, even though at first she seems most unlovable. A wonderful book to listen to as a family.
Book Review of A Year Down Younder 2007-06-16
This was an exciting and amusing look at a very sad time in the life of many people in America. The recession of 1937 was difficult for the Dowdel family. Times were so hard that the Dowdels could not afford to keep their two children. Mary Alice was sent to live with grandma for a year. Coming from Chicagao to a rural community was quite an adjustment. Grandma made the story captivating since she was such a different sort of person. Much humor was woven into the plot.
A Year Down Yonder 2007-06-12
When Mary Alice steps off the train from Chicago, she feels likes she's at the end of the world. Rural Louisiana and gruff old Grandma Dowdel are a big change for this fifteen-year-old. The Depression has caused this upheaval in her life, and she must figure out a way to survive the year. It doesn't take long, however, for Mary Alice to start seeing another side of Grandma. Life turns out to be much less drear than Mary Alice imagined as she observes and then joins in on Grandma's witty and poignant escapades to right the wrongs in their community.
Excellent, Excellent Book 2007-06-12
I'm a gifted student going into my freshmen year and an avid reader, and I have been reading "A Year Down Yonder" and "A Long Way From Chicago" at least three times every summer since I was in fifth grade. I highly reccomend this book to anyone at any age, and it dissapoints me that they lable it as a book for children ages 9 - 12 because I believe anyone can enjoy it.
