Richard Peck

I love reading books in a series, but I hate reading them out of order. Richard Peck's A Long Way from Chicago and A Year Down Yonder tells the stories of Grandma Dowdel and her two granchildren, Joey and Mary Alice. The first book A Long Way from Chicago is the story of a grown-up Joey looking back at his childhood when he and his sister went to visit their grandmother every summer for one week. The story is told by using short stories which represent the yearly trips to grandma's house. Grandma Dowdel is a larger than life character who teaches her grandchildren the important things of life.

A Year Down Yonder is Mary Alice's story. During the depression, Mary Alice must leave her parents in Chicago and she goes to live with her Grandmother in the country Mary Alice is continually amazed and delighted with her grandmother's antics and how much she is like her grandmother.

Both books are great fun and you will fall in love with Grandma and all the trouble she gets into.