A Long Way From Chicago gives us one week each summer from 1929 to 1935 as Joey and Mary Alice visit their grandmother in small-town Illinois. Grandma Dowdel is a larger-than-life character and definitely not your average grandma. She takes the kids on various adventures - from seeing their first corpse, to illegal fishing, to spinning tall tales - to help people in her community. The companion novel, A Year Down Yonder, is written in Mary Alice’s perspective as she spends a full year with Grandma Dowdel in the depths of the Great Depression. We get to see Grandma through every season, including her favorite, Halloween. Mary Alice is, at first, reluctant to have to live in Grandma’s sleepy town, but she’s quick to adapt and even becomes a willing accomplice in Grandma’s schemes.
Is Grandma Dowdel a bad influence or a good role model for her grandchildren? Given that she’s not a very affectionate person, how does Grandma Dowdel show her grandchildren that she loves them? What were our favorite stories from each of the books? Join us as we discuss these questions and more in episode 12 of our spoiler-filled podcast.
Questions: The questions discussed in this episode come from Penguin Random House, with a few sprinkled in that Kayla came up with. → https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/286535/a-year-down-yonder-by-richard-peck/9780142300701/readers-guide/
Great music huh?! The music for the intro and outro are segments from a song titled "Busy City" by TrackTribe, which was accessed through the YouTube audio library.
Coming up next: Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Interested in starting your own podcast? Sign up with Buzzsprout using our referral code and we'll both get a $20 amazon gift card! https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1894341
