Having no choice in the matter, Mary Alice arrives by train in September with her beloved cat Bootsie and prized Philco radio. Grandma's Hickory farming community could not be more different from Chicago if it tried, and the grandmother Mary Alice remembers from childhood is a no-nonsense country gal. Her brother, Joey Dowdel, joins the army while Mary Alice is less than thrilled with the arrangement. 15-year-old Mary Alice is sent downstate to live with Grandma Dowdel while her mother and father remain in Chicago. The year is 1938, and the Great Depression has hit the Dowdel family hard.

It is a sequel to A Long Way from Chicago, which itself received a Newbery Honor. A Year Down Yonder is a hilariously funny and heart-warming novel.144 pp (first edition, hardback)130 pp (2000)Ī Year Down Yonder is a novel by Richard Peck published in 2000 and won the Newbery Medal in 2001. Over the course of the year, Mary Alice experiences a hurricane, fox-hunting by night, a late-night raid of a pecan tree and pumpkin patch, a huge snake in the attic, and a community rife with hardship and social pretenses. Now, Mary Alice is fifteen and must spend a whole year with her grandmother, away from her Chicago home. These summers were packed with enough surprises and drama to fill the double bill of any picture show. Mary Alice spent her childhood summers staying with her grandmother in a small country-town in Illinois. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included.Ī Year Down Yonder is a Newbery Medal-winning story about a young girl who must spend a year living with her grandmother in the country. Create a travel brochure for Chicago, Illinois.

Students identify who the antagonist of the story is and defend their opinion. Write a letter to Mary Alice's mother in her own words in an attempt to change her opinion of the grandmother. Put events from the story in order as they happened with Mary Alice and Grandma on Halloween. Translate two different expressions Mary Alice uses to describe her grandmother.

List things that are different between Mary Alice's world and the present.

Students are taken out of their comfort zone to experience a year in the country.Īdditional writing tasks offer great options for extra work. Both eBook & Print Book Order #: CC+P2526.

A year down under richard peck