Rating: 5 stars
Cover synopsis: Mary Alices's summer days in Grandma Dowdel's hick town had been packed with enough surprises and drama to fill the double bill of any picture show. But now she is fifteen and facing a whole year with Grandma, a woman well known for shaking up the local populace.
This is Peck's sequel to A Long Way From Chicago. And he doesn't disappoint. The storytelling is just as strong, the characters as vivid and the situations as wacky as in the first book. It's got plenty of humor and heart.
In A Year Down Yonder, Mary Alice's family has been hard hit by the Great Depression. Her father has lost his job, her brother Joey has gone to work for the CCC, and her parents can't afford to keep her around. So they send her to live with Grandma Dowdel in the country. It's a tough adjustment for the city girl, but she soon finds her place. She even starts making her own adventures -- escapades that'd do Grandma proud.
