Customer comments on this Youngstown Ohio Book
 A Year Down Yonder
The Great Depression sounds like a dreary era to write a story about, but instead A Year Down Yonder, is packed full of exciting and funny adventures. Mary Alice is a fifteen year old girl from Chicago, in 1937, who goes to live with her Grandma Dowdel in a hick town in rural Illinois. Mary moves to her Grandma's house after her father lost his job during hard times due to the Depression. The move was challenging and uneasy at first.
Grandma Dowdel is a fur trapper and has little tolerance for fools. She has a gruff exterior and a no-nonsense style to boot. It doesn't take Mary Alice long to see the real Grandma that is hidden inside her, one that she loves and has great respect for.
Mary Alice directs the reader though the mishaps and adventures that are encountered an in doing so, the reader can experience first hand the hilarious escapades she goes through. This also shows the Grandma's great wisdom and logic that comes with her years of experience.
The theme of the book is to not judge a book by its cover. Even though Mary did not want to go live with her gruff Grandma, wisdom takes over and helps her to understand a different side of her Grandma and her ways of life. This was a very enjoyable book that all ages will enjoy reading.
 Amazing it's a Newbery Medal book
Ok, I usually find that Newberry Medal books are amazing children literature. But A Year Down Yonder sure wasn't. I thought it was boring, strange story that didn't make me laugh like I thought it would. I think Richard Peck could have made a really great, funny, enjoyable story out of the plot that he had. But unfortunately he didn't. Me and my friend read this for school and we both didn't like it. This is what we said about it on "The Books You Read for Reading Buddies" poster. "It was really hard to get into, and once we got into it, it was still boring."
 Better than 5 Stars!
I'd give this book ten stars if I could! Like A Long Way from Chicago, the characters are vibrant, the description is believable and vivid, and you can't predict what's going to happen next.
What I think I love best is the fact that it enforces the idea that you don't need to be young and have a pretty face to be beautiful, intelligent, and wonderful.
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