A Long Way From Chicago (Puffin Modern Classics)

Given the number of reviews already here, I would not have bothered except that Amazon sells two slightly different editions of it -- at the same price -- and one is slightly larger, and thus easier to read.

I would not have known this except that our 5th grader is reading this for school, and the school hands out the other edition, which (today at least) you can also find on Amazon: [[ASIN:0141303522 A Long Way From Chicago: A Novel in Stories]]. Same price, and same promo deal as this one.

The "Puffin Modern Classics" version has the same number of pages, but is about 10-15% smaller in length and width. Do the math and you realize, the typeface has to be smaller, and the original was not oversized to start with. The size difference sounds trivial, but if you get used to reading the original (Scholastic) paperback edition, your eyes have to adjust if you switch to the smaller (Puffin) one.

I can't say that it's a major problem, and it is readable. If you never saw both versions you'd never know. Now you do! Personally, if given the choice (and better information!) I would have ordered the larger one instead at the same price.

Regardless of size, the book is hilarious and unique. A great change of pace from the usual kid's book and highly recommended.

In 1929, nine-year-old Joey Dowdel and his seven-year-old sister Mary Alice, who live in Chicago, IL, make the first of seven annual trips to spend a week with their Grandma Dowdel in southern Illinois, somewhere between Chicago and St. Louis, MO, during summer vacation. Each chapter covers one year's visit. And in those years, Joey and Mary Alice get to see and help Grandma give a funeral for Shotgun Cheatham, the town reprobate; get even with the Cowgill boys for their vandalism; trap catfish to feed the traveling unemployed men hit hard by the Depression; try to win the pie contest at the county fair; assist Vandalia Eubanks and Junior Stubbs to elope and get married ala Romeo and Juliet style; use the local rummage sale to keep Mrs. Elsie Wilcox's house from being foreclosed; and observe the town's centennial celebration.
The year 1935 was the last visit because Joey was fifteen and the next year would be in line for a summer job in Chicago. However, there is a final chapter, almost an "afterword," for 1942 when he was going into the air corps to fight in World War II, and passed by Grandma Dowdel's house on the train. The idea of "A Novel in Stories" is that the plot progresses in a series of short stories. The first chapter actually had appeared as a short story in Twelve Shots: Stories About Guns edited by Harry Mazer in 1997. I first heard of this book through Scholastic and Children's Book of the Month clubs. But what I heard did not necessarily impress me. Of course, Scholastic and Children's B.M.O.C. both try to make the books they sell sound as good as possible, and their synopsis of A Long Way from Chicago was, "Grandma Dowdel lies, cheats, trespasses, and wakes up her sleepy little town--always for a good cause." To me, it did not sound very good. It was a Newbery Honor book in 1999, and its sequel, A Year Down Yonder, in which Mary Alice has been sent to spend the whole 1937-1938 school year with Grandma Dowdel while Joey is out West planting trees through a government work program, won the Newbery Medal in 2001. This does not surprise me, as being a Newbery winner nowadays does NOT mean that a book is good, or even fit to read for that matter. Grandma Dowdel returns in the year 1958, without Joey and Mary Alice, in a later book A Season of Gifts.
It is true that there is a great deal of humor in the situations found in the book, but to see the humor one must overlook the fact that Grandma tells lies (some of which are described as whoppers), brews her own beer during prohibition, sets illegal fish traps, flaunts the law (even though the law in this case is somewhat less than perfect), cheats at the pie contest, and starts false rumors. In examining the book from a Biblical worldview, it has been suggested that one's view of the book will depend on his personal viewpoint on seeing humor in actions that are not always above reproach. I think that the underlying basis of the book may be encapsulated by the statement, "It was a story that grew in the telling in one of those little towns where there's always time to ponder all the different kinds of truth." Rather than a search for absolute truth, even in fiction, the idea of "different kinds of truth" sounds more like humanistic relativism. Also, when Joey asks Grandma about the punishment for setting illegal traps, she replies, "Nothin' if you don't get caught," which Joey concludes "was an example of the way Grandma reasoned." All in all, this is not a really bad book--I've read much worse posing as children's literature, but it is filled with questionable behavior which, yes, is "for a good cause," but that's part of the problem. The implication is that the end justifies the means, and people with a Biblical worldview know that this just isn't so.

This book is so great, every kid should read these. It is truly a classic, the characters are wonderful. The grandma is a super cheap lady that never wastes anything and takes crap off no one. I'm feeling inarticulate right now, so my review is just -- read it, you will love it. good for adults and kids.

I'm not a fan of this book. I guess I don't like books geared for children where the main character who is supposed to be the one the readers fall in love with does nothing but wrong things. Grandma manipulates, lies and cheats constantly. I kept waiting for there to be a point, a lesson to be learned by all this wrong-doing, but nothing ever came of it.

Also, I didn't find some of the material to be very appropriate for kids. Joey describing old men's underwear hanging low and him noticing his sister's frame and how his grandmother's dress was extremely low cut and how big she was up top, among other things, were weird and completely pointless.

The story is slow and there's no moral. I don't think kids books need to be preachy, but there should be a lesson. The lesson in this one could only be if you don't like someone trick them into losing something important to them, make sure you use trickery to win competitions and two wrongs always make a right. Or something like that. Honestly, as a twenty-two year old, I found nothing to appreciate about this book and Peck's writing is nothing special. I would not recommend it to any kids.

My 11 year old daughter had this assigned required reading the summer going into 6th grade. I decided to read it with her (got 2 copies). She had trouble getting into it at first because it’s written from the time of 1920’s and some phrases were unknown or confusing to her. It was an instant hit for me. I knew I was going to adore All the characters from the start. This book is beautiful, hilarious and a quick read. I’m the end my daughter and I both loved it - just ordered he sequel. She even got 100% on the AR reading test for it.

To my surprise, A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck is a novel told in stories rather than a straightforward narrative. As I began to dip into the stories, I also discovered that the real heroine of this short story cycle isn’t a young person but Grandma Dowdel. Despite not being what I expected, I enjoyed Peck’s touching and funny novel.

Eight stories depict several summer vacations as spent by Joey and Alice with their grandmother who lives in a rural Illinois town. The first tale starts with the riveting line, “You wouldn’t think we’d have to live Chicago to see a dead body.” No truth was better spoken for not even the big city crimes of Chicago offered as much excitement to the two siblings than the larger-than-life Grandma Dowdel who tricks a reporter into believing in ghosts, rescues the town from the terror of the Cowgill boys, sets illegal fish traps to feed drifters, bakes a pie to save her town’s honor, comes to the aid of mismatched lovers, outwits a banker, and has a showdown with her closet friend over whose family has the world’s oldest veteran. Each lengthy story is narrated by grandson Joey, as he looks back to share adventures riveting enough to make your heart race and reflective memories of his grandmother that will make you smile. The latter results in poignant lines such as there’s all different kinds of truth and we all grow up faster than we wish.

Not only does rural Illinois offer more excitement than Chicago, but Grandma Dowdel is far from your ordinary relative. Whether or not her deceased husband used a twelve-gauge, double-barreled Winchester Model 21 to ducks, it comes in handy more than once against trespassers and supposed ghosts. In front of her grandchildren, she tells whoppers to a reporter and deliberately pretends her milk has been spoiled by neighborhood hoodlums drowning mice in it. She also sets illegal traps to catch catfish and steals a boat from the town sheriff. I could go on, but I’m sure you get the idea from my list that Grandma Dowdel isn’t above playing the part of a con artist or even of breaking the law. Now the truth is she’s kind of like a Robin Hood and all other those outlaws who felt serving the people gave them a right to their actions. Despite being a reclusive, Grandma Dowdel makes it a point to help keep law and order in her community, feed the hungry and homeless, ensure her grandson won his coveted ride on an airplane, and keep the bank from foreclosing on the house of her sworn enemy and friend. Her influence becomes on her grandchildren becomes apparent when they become involved in their own charade.

All eight stories are memorable but I have to admit my favorite is “The Day of Judgement”. In this short, the town banker’s wife asks Grandma Dowdel to bake a pie for the country fair. The town wishes to keep their name in front of the public and believes Grandma can do it with her gooseberry pie. To convince Grandma, a ride is even offered to both her and the grandchildren. Grandma spent three busy days preparing for that fair. In the end though, she couldn’t pull off first prize. I like this story best, because it shows a vulnerable side to an otherwise tough woman. The town felt fine with the results, because a second place ribbon still did them well. She however had her pride and her grandson to consider. The first-place winner would win a ride in the airplane and Grandma desired this prize for Joey.

This week has given me a promising introduction to Richard Peck, but already I wish to check out more of his writings. To date, I have read his memoir, some of his poetry and short story collections, and A Long Way Home from Chicago. In other words, I still need to regular one of his more straightforward novels.

I teach 6-8th grade reading intervention and my students love this book! Even though it's technically a 4th grade level and a lower lexile range, I think it can be used through the middle grades.
I give this a high rating for the vocabulary, extensive figurative language and historical references, and the format of the story. Each chapter is a different 'adventure,' so if a new student joins our intervention class, they're not completely lost.
Richard Peck's characterization of Grandma Dowdel truly makes this story memorable and engaging! Thank you Mr. Peck.

This is definitely a great book for all ages. The only problem was the way the publisher cut the pages. They are not center. I plan on keeping the book because it was offered at such a low price

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.

Wow! Love this book - along with A Year Down Yonder... how can anyone not fall in love with the eccentric Mrs. Dowdel! I would recommend these books for students and adults.. Mr. Peck has a real knack for developing characters, telling stories, and reminding us all of a simpler time filled with challenges we take for granted these days. A must read!