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    A Long Way From Chicago: A Novel in Stories
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    A Long Way From Chicago: A Novel in Stories
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    A Long Way From Chicago: A Novel in Stories
    Audiobook4 hours

    A Long Way From Chicago: A Novel in Stories

    Written by Richard Peck

    Narrated by Ron McLarty

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    What happens when Joey and his sister, Mary Alice--two city slickers from Chicago--make their annual summer visits to Grandma Dowdel's seemingly sleepy Illinois town?

    August 1929: They see their first corpse, and he isn't resting easy.
    August 1930: The Cowgilll boys terrorize the town, and Grandma fights back with a dead mouse and a bottle of milk.
    August 1931: Joey and Mary Alice help Grandma to trespass, pinch property, poach, catch the sheriff in his underwear, and feed the hungry--all in one day.

    And there's more--much more--as Joey and Mary Alice make seven summer trips to Grandma's, each one funnier and more surprising than the year before. In the grand storytelling tradition of American humorists from Mark Twain to Flannelly O'Connor, Richard Peck has created a memorable world filled with characters who, like Grandma herself, are larger than life and twice as entertaining. And year round, you are sure to enjoy your stay with them.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 10, 2005
    ISBN9780307243218
    Unavailable
    A Long Way From Chicago: A Novel in Stories
    Author

    Richard Peck

    "I spent the first eighteen years of my life in Decatur, Illinois, a middle-American town in a time when teenagers were considered guilty until proven innocent, which is fair enough. My mother read to me before I could read to myself, and so I dreamed from the start of being a writer in New York. But Decatur returned to haunt me, becoming the "Bluff City" of my four novels starring Alexander Armsworth and Blossom Culp. When I was young, we were never more than five minutes from the nearest adult, and that solved most of the problems I write about for a later generation living nearer the edge. The freedoms and choices prematurely imposed upon young people today have created an entire literature for them. But then novels are never about people living easy lives through tranquil times; novels are the biographies of survivors. "I went to college in Indiana and then England, and I was a soldier in Germany -- a chaplain's assistant in Stuttgart -- ghost-writing sermons and hearing more confessions than the clergy. In Decatur we'd been brought up to make a living and not to take chances, and so I became an English teacher, thinking this was as close to the written word as I'd be allowed to come. And it was teaching that made a writer out of me. I found my future readers right there in the roll book. After all, a novel is about the individual within the group, and that's how I saw young people every day, as their parents never do. In all my novels, you have to declare your independence from your peers before you can take that first real step toward yourself. As a teacher, I'd noticed that nobody ever grows up in a group. "I wrote my first line of fiction on May 24th, 1971 -- after seventh period. I'd quit my teaching job that day, liberated at last from my tenure and hospitalization. At first, I wrote with my own students in mind. Shortly, I noticed that while I was growing older every minute at the typewriter, my readers remained mysteriously the same age. For inspiration, I now travel about sixty thousand miles a year, on the trail of the young. Now, I never start a novel until some young reader, somewhere, gives me the necessary nudge.. "In an age when hardly more than half my readers live in the same homes as their fathers, I was moved to write Father Figure. In it a teenaged boy who has played the father-figure role to his little brother is threatened when they are both reunited with the father they hardly know. It's a novel like so many of our novels that moves from anger to hope in situations to convince young readers that novels can be about them... "I wrote Are You in the House Alone? when I learned that the typical victim of our fastest growing, least-reported crime, rape, is a teenager -- one of my own readers, perhaps. It's not a novel to tell young readers what rape is. They already know that. It's meant to portray a character who must become something more than a victim in our judicial system that defers to the criminal... "Two of my latest attempts to keep pace with the young are a comedy called Lost in Cyberspace and its sequel, The Great Interactive Dream Machine. Like a lot of adults, I noticed that twelve year olds are already far more computer-literate than I will ever be. As a writer, I could create a funny story on the subject, but I expect young readers will be more attracted to it because it is also a story about two friends having adventures together. There's a touch of time travel in it, too, cybernetically speaking, for those readers who liked sharing Blossom Culp's exploits. And the setting is New York, that magic place I dreamed of when I was young in Decatur, Illinois..." More About Richard Peck Richard Peck has written over twenty novels, and in the process has become one of America's most highly respected writers for young adults. A versatile writer, he is beloved by middle graders as well as young adults for his mysteries and coming-of-age novels. He now lives in New York City. In addition to writing, he spends a great deal of time traveling around the country attending speaking engagements at conferences, schools and libraries... Mr. Peck has won a number of major awards for the body of his work, including the Margaret A. Edwards Award from School Library Journal, the National Council of Teachers of English/ALAN Award, and the 1991 Medallion from the University of Southern Mississippi. Virtually every publication and association in the field of children s literature has recommended his books, including Mystery Writers of America which twice gave him their Edgar Allan Poe Award. Dial Books for Young Readers is honored to welcome Richard Peck to its list with Lost in Cyberspace and its sequel The Great Interactive Dream Machine... Twenty Minutes a Day by Richard Peck Read to your children Twenty minutes a day; You have the time, And so do they. Read while the laundry is in the machine; Read while the dinner cooks; Tuck a child in the crook of your arm And reach for the library books. Hide the remote, Let the computer games cool, For one day your children will be off to school; Remedial? Gifted? You have the choice; Let them hear their first tales In the sound of your voice. Read in the morning; Read over noon; Read by the light of Goodnight Moon. Turn the pages together, Sitting close as you'll fit, Till a small voice beside you says, "Hey, don't quit." copyright © 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.

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    Reviews for A Long Way From Chicago

    4/5

    531 ratings50 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Joey & Mary Alice are sent for the summer to visit their Grandma Dowdel who lives in a small whistle-stop town between the Wabash Railroad's Chicago & St. Louis run.

      The book is broken down into a series of "stories" taking place from 1929-1935 and 1942.

      The prologue begins: "It was always August when we spent a week with our grandma......In our first visits we were still just kids, so we could hardly see her town because of Grandma. She was so big, and the town was so small........"

      The stories come alive with the evocative writing of Peck....It's no wonder that this book is a Newbery Award Honor Book.
    • 4/5
      A book about the narrator and his sister's annual visit to see their grandmother in a small town in Illinois during the Depression. The grandmother is a bit scary and hard to figure out at first, but as the years go by they look forward to their visits and how the adventures they inevitably have with her.
    • 5/5
      What a great book. Gives the feel of an early 20th century Mark Twain. Funny small-town characters and a Grandma who keeps her grand kids (and the reader) guessing what she'll do/say next. The sign of a good book is wishing there was more, I'll be reading more Richard Peck.
    • 5/5
      In my opinion, this book was very interesting. I really enjoyed reading this book because every chapter of the book was a new visit from Joe and Mary Alice. As a reader I was able to see the children grow from being young to being in high school. In this book, I liked the plot. Each chapter is a brand new story with a brand new plot. I liked that the plots were paced well even though the chapters were only twenty pages. Each chapter had a beginning, climax, and a resolution, but then the overall book had a beginning, climax, and resolution. It was interesting to see how the author was able to do that.I also liked the point of view of the book. It was in Joe's point of view. This book starts in 1929 and ends in 1942. As a reader I was able to see Joe grow and see his perspective of things that he encountered in the town. In the beginning he was shocked by what type of person his grandmother was, but by the time he became a young adult, he appreciated who his grandmother was.I think that the purpose of this book was to bring awareness of the different events in history and also allow readers to be entertained with a fictional story. Events like the Great Depression and Prohibition are mentioned so the readers kind of learn about the events in a fun way.
    • 5/5
      always loved peck's books!
    • 4/5
      This book is a hoot! Joe and Mary Alice go to Chicago to visit their crazy grandmother. Anything goes with this crazy lady! They find their first dead corpse, grandma terrorizes the town, they find the sheriff in his underwear- each chapter is another adventure. Grandma is a one woman crime wave in this chapter book. If I were Joe and Mary Alices parents I would probably think twice about sending my kids to grandma for the summer. I could also see where grandma was trying to do good by her grandkids. Switching the name tags was definitely the wrong thing to do but all she was trying to do was get her grandson a ride on the airplane. I liked this book. Humor seems to be a trend in many of the childrens books I have read and I feel like that is a key component in this book.
    • 4/5
      This Young Adult book is a collection of (fiction) stories of two grandchildren who visit their grandmother every summer during the 1930's. And I can tell you, that grandmother is quite a character! Written in the vain of Mark Twain, this is a far-fetched, but very entertaining book. I enjoyed it a lot! There is a sequel: "A Year Down Yonder" and I will be reading it next :)
    • 3/5
      Excellent book, with history, humor, and discuss-able characters and themes. Somehow I just didn't really enjoy it, though. I guess because I kept comparing Mrs. Dowdel with my own widowed, opinionated, strong, privy-using Grandma, and there was some match, and some contrast, and the dissonance made me uncomfortable.

      Short enough I did read the sequel, so I'll just copy this comment there. Read other's reviews to decide for yourself whether you want to try this.
    • 5/5
      A Long Way From Chicago isn't exactly a novel; it is a series of seven short stories that take place in sequential years, as Joey and his sister Mary Alice spend a summer with their tough, eccentric grandmother during the Great Depression. Grandma Dowdel is a woman to be reckoned with, and she is stern, tough, opinionated, and difficult. But all of those characteristics cover her lovable heart-of-gold, that she doesn't seem to want anyone to see. Each story is funny and craftily plotted.
    • 5/5
      This has been a charming and delightful read.

      A series of short stories spanning 1929 to 1942 telling of the yearly summer visits of Joey and Mary Alice to their Grandma's. Being born and raised in Chicago, spending a week in a small whistle stop of a town was a whole different world. Things ran a bit slower and people really did communicate with each other.

      Grandma Dowdel's house was the last one on the single street of the town. No phone, an outdoor privy for toilet facilities, no car for transportation; she lived a simple life, but she wasn't simple.

      Remembrances of happenings and dealings with the various characters that made up the population show how wily Grandma could be along with the deep caring she had, even if she seemed to be a "tough old boot". A humourous look at a different time and place.

    • 5/5
      One of my favorites!
    • 5/5
      What I really like about this book is that although it is a historical fiction book, the feelings expressed between Joey and Mary Alice when they are forced to go visit Grandma each summer are relatable to the students who will be reading the book. The characters in Grandma's town are funny and keep the reader interested. Grandma is a card and is always surprising Joey and Mary Alice, as well as the reader. Each chapter in the book features the main event of the childrens' summer at Grandma's town in Illinois. The stories, told by Joey's point of view, are very dramatic but just realistic enough to make them seem plausible. The book features a lot of colloquialisms from the 1930's that add to the authenticity of the stories. I really like this book and think it could easily appeal to both boys and girls.
    • 5/5
      In my opinion I enjoyed reading this book because of the structure of this book into short story chapters and how the chapter titles are related to the stories. An example of this is the second story "The Mouse in the Milk" which resolves with Grandma Dowdel saying that Ernie and his brothers placed a mouse in her milk container. In addition I enjoy that the author chose to arrange the book into short stories because of how each has the reader's attention at all times. As you read there is no sure expected next event to occur because Grandma Dowdel is unpredictable. An old lady with a large weapon in her house, a head full of stories and schemes is an understatement in describing this woman. The overall main idea or big picture of this book is to entertain the reader while also teaching the reader about historical events. In this realistic fiction chapter book it is apparent that there is never a dull moment when looking at the history of the United States.
    • 5/5
      A Long Way from Chicago is a great story about a girl named Mary and her brother Joey, who spend most of their summers when they were younger with their unpredictable grandmother. Every summer something unexpected and out of the ordinary happens. I loved this book!! The grandmother in the story was quite a character. She has a unusual personality and is not one of the greatest role models for Joey and Alice. I thought that it was funny how no matter how outrageous their grandmother acted that they still wanted to come back. Although the grandmother had a different way of doing things, after a couple of chapters I felt like I knew her and I expected certain things from her. This book did a good job at making a person feel engaged in the book. I liked how the story was broken up into each summer. This was a great touch to help with comprehension of the stories for children. Through out the story some of the vocabulary seems a bit much at time and children might need a glossary to help them understand certain ideas. This is a good book to help with understanding how things were during this great depression period. Overall, I loved this book and would recommend this book. This book is one that would be great for reading out loud and would create some laughs for children.
    • 5/5
      Funny as always Grandma teaches the kids how to survive by fishing, making homemade soap, and other activities. She enlist them in her charity work, pie baking contest, and sneaking lovers out of town.
    • 5/5
      This set of books are valuable historical memories, made up, likely impossible at times but most belivable and enjoyable.
    • 5/5
      This 1999 Newbery Honor Book is “a novel in stories” of humorous happenings during the week-long visits two Chicago children, Joey and Mary Alice, made to their Grandma Dowdel's rural Illinois home during the Depression years of 1929 through 1935. I was born in the Chicago suburb where my dad grew up and my grandparents lived for many years, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins still live in that area. Some of my ancestors were from Springfield, Illinois. They owned a haberdashery and sold a hat to Abraham Lincoln, so the story where Grandma Dowdel tries to pass off a stovepipe hat from her attic as his rang true to me.I found Grandma Dowdel to be the most interesting character. In his Newbery acceptance speech, Peck described Grandma Dowdel as “the American tall tale in a Lane Bryant dress. There’s more than a bit of Paul Bunyan about her, and a touch of the Native American trickster tradition; she may just be Kokopelli without the flute.” In the December 2001/January 2002 issue of The Reading Teacher, Peck said she “is the great American tradition I came from. She is all of my great aunts, and while she is not much like my grandmother—except physically—all were imposing women…It was a matriarchy, and Grandma Dowdel represents that. Notice she is often cooking? To her, that is not a subservient role, that is feeding the world…Their kitchens were their temples.” “Joey expresses his awe at the power of a mighty grandmother and, perhaps, of all women,” Peck says in the Newbery acceptance speech. “Mary Alice tells of finding in an unexpected place the role model for the rest of her life.”This book could have been set in just about any rural small town in the country during 1929-1935. I think the humor in the book would be enjoyed by both boys and girls about age 9 and up (reading level is about grade 4.6-5.0).
    • 4/5
      Great book, the characters really stood out as so did the story. Bit of a sad ending, but a good sad ending.
    • 3/5
      Not a favorite - Grandma Dowdel is a bit too much of a manipulator for me. Interesting setting, though - before and during the Great Depression.
    • 4/5
      What a delightful read! This book consists of short stories about two children's summer visits with their grandma in 1930s Illinois, told from the perspective of the older brother. Their grandmother is an original, a non-conformist, and the children learn to love and emulate her. The local library has the other two books in the series. I've put in a request to borrow them, and plan to enjoy more about these characters this weekend.
    • 5/5
      Audiobook performed by Ron McLarty

      When Joey was nine and his sister Mary Alice was seven their parents put them on the train to go visit their Grandma Dowdel. They were city kids and you’d think they’d seen everything. But it was over several summer “vacations” in Grandma’s sleepy small town in Southern Illinois that they: saw their first corpse, helped Grandma get back at a gang of thugs trying to terrorize widows, trespassed on private property, illegally trapped fish, caught the sheriff in his underwear, and witnessed firsthand the toll the Great Depression took on people.

      What a wonderful novel of a time gone by. There’s a certain innocence to having Joey narrate, although he and Mary Alice do grow up over the seven years the novel’s stories span. I was laughing aloud at several of the shenanigans Grandma perpetrated. The writing is action-packed and very atmospheric. I itched with the memory of chigger bites, felt the torpidity of a humid summer day, smelled the heavenly aroma of fresh fruit simmering on the stove, and heard the sounds of a summer night. I couldn’t help but think of my own summer vacations at Grandma’s house in the dusty little Texas town she called home. With no television, no air-conditioning, and no car we had to find ways to amuse and entertain ourselves. And if we dared to be “bored” she’d find something for us to do (usually involving hard, sweaty work). A lot like Grandma Dowdel!

      Ron McLarty is marvelous performing the audiobook. His voice for Grandma is priceless! When I finished listening, I immediately picked up the hardcover book and started reading from the beginning.

      This may be a children’s book, but I’ll wager that adults will appreciate it even more.
    • 4/5
      This had been on my "need to read one of these days" and I'm so glad I finally did. From the time that Joey is 9 and Mary Alice is 7, the two children spend a week each summer with their Grandma Dowdel, who is very different from any adult the two have ever met. Her combination of strong personality and-- yes, often underhandedness-- steamrolls any of the folks in her small town who get in her way. While this is disconcerting for her grandchildren at first, they grow to take her in stride and even enjoy the ways that she outwits townspeople who seem to deserve it. Short vignettes cover each summer from their first with her in 1929 to their last visit in 1935. As the narrator, an adult Joe looks back at his childhood, and his voice is frank and thoroughly engaging.
      Humorous historical fiction.
    • 4/5
      9/2012: I still love this book, and Grandma Dowdel still puts me in mind of my own irascible grandmother who gets more legendary the longer she's been dead. I like the episodic form of this book, though I think the sequel is better.

      2000ish: I adored this book. My own grandmother has much in common with Joey's, and Peck is a lovely wordsmith to boot. Fun, warm, sweet but never gooey.
    • 5/5
      This is a great book, one of my favorite from the children's lit class. It's a series of stories about the adventures of a pair of Chicago children when they go to visit their Grandma Dowdel every summer from 1929-1935. Set in northern Illinois, I recognize so much of what happens during their visits. This is one I can't recommend enough.
    • 5/5
      Ah, good old midwesterners.. I think we might "get" this book a bit better than other folks from around the world. Seeing as how we have lived thru bits and pieces of small town country life. My own grandparents lived thru the depression that these stories were set, and frankly they told very similar stories. If you loved Jean Shepard and his Christmas Story, read Peck's summers he spent with his grandmother. They'll remind you of a time gone by.

      I finished this in an hr on the train. Great train reading.
    • 5/5
      I had read this and Year Down Yonder when I was teaching 6th grade language arts, but had forgotten most of it. Not sure why I put it on my toread queue, but when I went through my queue this week and saw that it was available at the local library branch, I took it out to reread - still funny, with a wry humor that makes you love Grandma's character all the more.
    • 4/5
      Excellent for reading aloud, A Long Way from Chicago follows the often laugh out loud funny adventures of Joe and Mary Alice as they visit their Grandma Dowdel in Southern Illinois during the late 1920s to the mid-1930s. Each chapter works as a stand alone story, although together the stories tell of Joey's coming-of-age. Peck fills the book with historical details, but they never detract or distract from the story. Ron McLarty narrates the audio book adequately, but not exceptionally. Having read this before, the voices he affected for the different characters didn't always match what I had imagined. For example, his Mary Alice voice was whinier than seemed appropriate. Overall though, I highly recommend either the book or the audio for fans of humor or historical fiction. Listened to Listening Library CD edition. Previously read.
    • 5/5
      Joey and Mary Alice Dowdel are growing up in Chicage during the 1930s, the age of gangsters, bank robbers, and the Great Depression. One would think they would see all there was to see in Chicago, but as it turns out, their more interesting life experiences come from the week they spend with their grandmother in a small town south of Chicago each summer. According to a much older Joey looking back on those life-altering August weeks, Grandmas was as large as life, if not larger.Now I'm older than Grandma was then, quite a bit older. But as the time gets past me, I seem to remember more and more about those hot summer days and nights, and the last house in town, where Grandma lived. And Grandma. Are all my memories true? Every word, and growing truer with the years.A Long Way from Chicago consists of a short story for each year that Joey and Mary Alice visit Grandma. Each year, the kids grow up a little more and grow to understand Grandma a little better. Each year, Grandma's antics make for the kind of family stories that become almost mythical in the telling and re-telling. With a strong sense of justice, a veiled capacity for kindness, and a clever way of putting people in their place when they need it and helping people out when they can't help themselves, Grandma proves herself to be nothing if not a person of action. As Joey and Mary Alice grow older they go from not quite knowing what to expect from their stern, practical grandma to always expecting that she'll be up to something.A Long Way from Chicago is an immensely enjoyable little book about a grandma that's tough as nails on the outside but, on the inside, is the sort of decent and resourceful ally you'd want in your corner. It's obvious that beneath her rough exterior she loves both her grandchildren fiercely. Whether you're young or old you'll get a kick out of Grandma's way of handling her town's busybodies, but if you're looking closely, you'll also find a story subtly woven with a grandmother's love, never more profoundly shown than in the last chapter, which brought me to tears.
    • 5/5
      First of all, this story is definitely aimed towards younger readers. For me, it was a very quick and easy read. Having said that, I also found it sweet and charming, and very much worth the time to read as an adult, too. One of the things I like about this book is its setting and the way it's presented. It has a cozy, old-timey feel to it that makes me think I might have liked to have lived back then. It depicts a time when hard work and struggle were a way of life, but at the same time, there seemed to be a stronger sense of community and neighbors taking care of neighbors than often seems the case these days. Even Grandma, who superficially is rather anti-social and doesn't really take kindly to anyone, deep down, cares about people and tries to do right. She may like to show people up now and again, but it seems to usually be when they are getting a bit too big for their britches in her estimation. As for the presentation, I always like when the narrator presents a story, not as something he is reporting on as it happens, but rather, as an adult looking back on things that happened to him as a child - the events seen through a child's eyes, but reflected on with the wisdom of an adult. It reminds my of the TV show "The Wonder Years" and Jean Shepherd's works, like what the movie "The Christmas Story" was based on, with that similar sort of wry sense of humor about the events included, too.I absolutely adore the character of Grandma (I'm sure she would be externally offended, but inwardly pleased, to hear me use those words), and I love how the kids start out sort of wary of her, but as they get older, they kind of wise up to her and start to read her and play along with the things she does. I also enjoyed the author showing how Grandma rubs off on the kids, particularly Mary Alice. I kind of wish I had a Grandma in my own life (although I love my own two grandmothers to pieces- I just think everyone needs a character like Grandma in their life)!I will say, I actually got really teary eyed at the end, with the last little two page story. I love the characters and, even though it was a short book, by the end, I felt like I was leaving friends. I am glad to be reading A Year Down Yonder, the sequel to this book, immediately after, to get another part of Mary Alice and Grandma's stories. But at the same time, I found myself wondering/imagining what might have happened to some of the other characters later on, like Joey and Ray Veech and others. I'd like to imagine that they lived happily ever after.
    • 5/5
      loved it. made me laugh out loud.