A Year Down Yonder

Peck, Richard. 2000. A Year Down Yonder. New York: Dial. ISBN 0803725183.

Plot summary
This is the sequel to Peck’s Newbery Honor award winner: A Long Way to Chicago. The story is set during the Depression and told through the eyes of fifteen year-old Mary. Mary’s family, like most of the country, is facing hard times. Consequently, Mary will reside with her feisty grandmother for a year until her parents are able to get back on their feet.

Analysis
Don't feel you've got to run out and purchase the prequel to this book. No, sir. Reading it is not a prerequisite, but after reading A Year Down Yonder, you won't help but to RUN to your nearest library and read more about these endearing characters!
The book does not overwhelm the reader with numerous details describing the time period. In fact, I feel Peck would have done a good thing in providing us with more glimpses of the Depression.
While the story is told from Mary Alice's point of view, it is without a doubt, Grandma Dowdel's antics that quickly make this book a difficult one to put down.

But I was suddenly arrested by a sight that only
Grandma and I saw. Mildred's big gray horse was trotting away, past the porch,
free as air. Tied around its neck were Mildred's boots.

I suppose that will teach Mildred NOT to mess with Grandma Dowdel's granddaughter.
What I loved about the story is that Mary Alice is an ordinary girl,who is considered rich, since she's coming from Chicago, but she could be any girl sitting in a classroom struggling with Math just as Mary Alice did. I was Mary Alice. She is so very real.

My students enjoyed the "Hick Talk" as they put it. Phrases such as "Dag nab it! and "Hop to it like bed bugs," had them rolling!" They really thought their English was so much better. When the following exchange took place between Ina-Rae and Mary Alice, I could have sworn I was a stand up comedian.

'I thought this was English class,' I whispered across
to Ina-Rae. 'Wasn't that Shakespeare?'
'Who?' Ina-Rae said.

(The only reason my 4th graders know about Shakespeare was thanks to a field trip we had recently taken.) I did, however; appreciate the confidence my students demonstrated. I whole-heartedly believe they related to Mary Alice, because they truly saw themselves in her. Not only that but my students also had incredibly lovable, but prickly grandmothers at home.
There is a beauty in the love that grows between Mary Alice and her grandmother. So much so, that it is in her grandmother's home that she weds. That is a fairy tale ending. Here too I wish Peck wouldn't have done so. The influence of Hollywood is apparent. I would have rather relished she married another and not her high school sweetheart.
Reviews
"Between antic capers, Peck reveals a marshmallow heart inside Grandma's rock-hard exterior and adroitly exposes the mutual, unspoken affection she shares with her granddaughter. Like Mary Alice, audience members will breathe a sigh of regret when the eventful year "down yonder" draws to a close." - From Publisher's Weekly

"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." - From Children's Literature

Connections
Other titles with the Depression Era topic are Out of the Dust by and Karen Hesse
Children of the Great Depression by Russell Freedman
Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp
A great book to display if your curriculum covers the Depression Era and also makes a wonderful read-aloud. This could also be used to incorporate journal writings during language arts or social studies.