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A YEAR DOWN YONDER

Name: A YEAR DOWN YONDER
Author: Richard Peck
ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8

From the Grandma Dowdel series , Vol. 2

by Richard Peck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2000

Year-round fun.

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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. (Fiction. 11-13)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000

ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BEST MAN
by Richard Peck

- BOOK REVIEW
THE MOUSE WITH THE QUESTION MARK TAIL
by Richard Peck ; illustrated by Kelly Murphy

- BOOK REVIEW
SECRETS AT SEA
by Richard Peck illustrated by Kelly Murphy

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DOWN IN THE PINEY WOODS

by Ethel Footman Smothers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1992

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Annie Rye Footman, ten, has no use for her three older half- sisters, especially after they join her Georgia sharecropper family permanently, but in time she learns to take her Grandma's advice to ``bear along wit each other.'' This first novel, based on the author's childhood in the 50's, is rich in vividly felt moments: the pleasure of buying candy at the ``rolling store''; the frustration of turning the other cheek to racist remarks and intimidation; Annie Rye's terror when snakes invade the house; her simple glee at buying a present for her heroic, hard-working father. Annie Rye and seven- year-old Brother are bright, lively characters (``Brother, look where you going.'' ``I is. You just in my way''). The rest of the cast is sketchy, and the plot takes a contrived turn near the end when Annie Rye's father literally turns away from an angry bigot with a pitchfork to rescue the man's daughter from a well. Nonetheless, Smothers explores the value of strong family bonds- -and Annie Rye's reluctant but ultimately wholehearted acceptance of her new sibs—with some insight. A promising debut. (Fiction. 11-13)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-679-80360-2

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1991

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE HARD-TIMES JAR
by Ethel Footman Smothers & illustrated by John Holyfield

- BOOK REVIEW
MORIAH'S POND
by Ethel Footman Smothers

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LITTLE BROTHER

by Allan Baillie ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1992

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Driven by a slim promise of safety plus the hope of finding his older brother Mang, 11-year-old orphan Muong Vithy makes his way across hundreds of miles of war-torn Cambodia to the Thai border, relying on his wits and the kindness of strangers to stay alive, evading the dreaded Khmer Rouge, and finding at last a chance for a new life in a distant country. Having passed through modern Phnom Penh and ancient Angkor Wat and finding both equally haunted, Vithy reaches Thailand. There, he meets Betty Harris, an Australian doctor, and begins to search for his brother, the last member of his family seen alive. Finally giving Mang up for dead, Vithy agrees to go with Harris to Australia—where he joyfully finds his brother awaiting him at the Sydney airport. The atrocities and privations that make Wartski's Boat to Nowhere (1980) and other refugee stories so searing are kept offstage here; this is a milder narrative (with something of a fairy-tale ending), but Baillie keeps the plot moving and his characters are deftly drawn and believable. (Fiction. 11-13)