A Long Way from Chicago

Categories: Children's Books

Looking for a nostalgic, humorous, summertime story? Then I highly recommend reading (or listening to) Richard Peck’s A Long Way from Chicago.  Every August, for six years, Joey and Mary Alice Dowdel leave the big city of Chicago to stay for a week with their grandmother in a small town in Illinois. Their visit is always eventful!

 

Grandmother Dowdel is a big woman, older than the hills, and tough as an old boot.  Her orneriness leads to many hilarious adventures for Joey and Mary Alice, like seeing a corpse "rise" from a coffin in Grandma's living room and catching local dignitaries in their underwear while trespassing with Grandma on the grounds of the Rod & Gun Club.

 

Richard Peck is the acclaimed author of many books for children and young adults.  Happily, he wrote a sequel to this book called A Year Down Yonder about the year Mary Alice comes to live with Grandma Dowdel. The sequel actually won the Newbery Medal for "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children" in 2001.

I enjoyed the first book about the Dowdels so much, I can't wait to read this next one. If you or your kids are looking for a funny family story to share—especially for a road trip—I highly recommend A Long Way from Chicago.