Great historical fiction book. The author Richard has really done an awesome job with creating unique characters that match with the time setting of the depression. Mary Alice and Grandma Dowdel make a good team in overcoming all obstacles. ( )

A Year Down Yonder is about Mary Alice. She is 15 years old and living just after the Great Depression of the 1930's. Mary Alice lives in Chicago with her mother, father, and older brother. The economy in Chicago is still doing badly, so Mary Alice is sent to live with her grandmother in the country in Illinois. Lots of things happen to Mary Alice and her grandmother is always in the middle of it. Crazy antics ensue and Mary Alice learns many lessons.

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. I wonder why I haven't found it sooner. The wild and funny things that happen will keep readers laughing and wanting more. I couldn't wait to turn the page to find out what Grandma Dowdle had up her sleeve next. From keeping a snake in the attic to catch the birds to pouring glue on the Principal's son's head, Mary Alice and her Grandmother never seem to have a dull moment and readers will enjoy that.

This book mentions the Great Depression. Being from Oklahoma, we have learn at an early age how the Great Depression affected us, but this book can provide us a look at how other places were affected as well. This book also talks about how Mary Alice and her Grandmother shop for clothes out of a catalog. You could talk to students about the way things have changed since the 1930s. Clothing was shopped for out of catalogs, people rode on trains instead of in cars, and letters were written instead of text messages sent.

“A Year Down Yonder” is a Newbery Honor, contemporary realistic fiction set in the time period of the American Great Depression. The story is told by a 15 year old girl, Mary Alice. Mary Alice’s father has lost his job. Mary Alice, her brother Joey, and their parents had to move into a “light housekeeping” room which was only large enough for two people. Joey was sent out west to the Civilian Conservation Corps to work and Mary Alice was sent to live with Grandma Dowdel in a “hick-town.” Grandma didn’t have a telephone and you had to go outdoors to the “privy.” Mary Alice develops a special relationship with her trigger-happy, out spoken, no nonsense grandmother. After a year with her grandmother, Mary Alice no longer wanted to go back to the city when her mother and dad sent for her. She had found the charm in the small country town through its people and its customs. She had discovered the special love she and her grandmother had for each other.

I thought this book was very deserving of the Newbery Medal. The story is told in the first person with a definite tone for the time period and “country style” of living. The conflicts between Mary Alice and her schoolmates, between Mary Alice and loneliness, between Mary Alice and the world created by the Great Depression, are all treated with the seriousness in which they are felt. However, the author manages to introduce humor through out the story to allow the reader to laugh and feel a sense of hope. Just as the book’s ending was a perfect ending so was the resolution to every conflict.

In a classroom a teacher can use the book to demonstrate the different life styles and cultures within a small towns and city located in same state. The students could tell about their own family’s customs and how they are different to other families they know. The book could be used to support discussion about extended members of a family and how they can be an important part of the students’ lives. Each student could draw a picture of the members of their families with whom they live. The picture could also show other extended family members that are important to the student but may not live with them.

In 1937, Mary Alice leaves Chicago to spend a year with her ornery grandmother in a small town. Effects of the Great Depression are deftly woven into a bildungsroman, in which Mary Alice learns to care for other people (while still demonstrating 15-year-oldness by choosing the Cuban heeled shoes from Sears-Roebuck).

The engaging story draws the reader into small town 1930s American life. "A Year Down Yonder" is actually a sequel to an earlier book featuring the same characters. This would be a good recommendation for later elementary readers, but frankly, many of Peck's other works may be preferred by young readers. The parallels between life during the Great Depression and life during our current recession could lead to some good class discussion among upper elementary or middle school students. ( )

A person in the depression spends a year "down yonder."