A Year Down Yonder

A Year Down Yonder
Richard Peck

My Rating: 4 out of 5

Genre: Historical Fiction/Newberry Award

Richard Peck's, A Year Down Yonder, offers a lively picture of life in the Midwest in 1937, after the brunt of the Great Depression is over but an economic recession is prevalent. Mary Alice, the main character, is sent to live with her grandmother in Chicago after her father loses his job and cannot afford to keep their apartment. Mary Alice is unsure about the move to Central Illinois, "I had to go down to live with Grandma Dowdel, til we could get on our feet as a family again. It meant I'd have to leave my school. I'd have to enroll in the hick-town school where my grandma lived. Me, a city girl, in a town that didn't even have a picture show." With her cat, Bootsie, a sandwich in her pocket and a small trunk containing all of her belongings, Mary Alice heads off on the train to embark on one of the most adventurous, life-changing years of her life.

I was pleasantly surprised when I read this book and found it wasn't a heart-wrenching tale of a family barely scraping by and the sacrifices they had to make to survive in the post-Depression era. This book had many laugh-out-loud moments, wild adventures and highlights how a small town unites in the face of adversity.

I would recommend this book for 6th through 8th grade classes studying the depression, especially in the Illinois area. This book is actually a sequel to "A Long Way From Chicago," but I do not believe one has to be read before the other for understanding. While I would not use this text as a replacement for books which show the more devastating effects of the depression, I would incorporate it as a lighter piece of literature that shows another side to life during those difficult times. It is also a great piece to use for character study - the transformation of Mary Alice, Grandma Dowdel and her two sides, along with the numerous townspeople who keep the town buzzing with gossip. Overall, this is a great light read that will keep students interested from the first page to the last.