A Long Way from Chicago is the wonderful story of a brother-sister combo (Joey and Mary Alice, respectively) that gets sent from Chicago to spend a week with their grandmother (who lives in a small Illinois town). The way Richard Peck conveys the siblings' summers is told in short chapters - each chapter devoted to a different summer.
At first, the siblings do not want to go spend a whole week of their summer with their grandmother, but as the story moves on, the reader finds the pair more anxious to go than the previous year. The antics of Grandma Dowdel are hilarious - she is like a snake in the grass, one you do not see until you almost step on it! With her larger-then-life stature, most townspeople fear Grandma. She has a keen way of getting the best of people, usually without them even knowing it!
As I was reading this book, I found myself looking forward to discovering what trick Granmda was up to next. I enjoyed reading about the children getting older, and seeing how their attitudes toward that summer week grew and changed with them. The book also made me think of how close I am with my grandmother, although she is not as sneaky as Grandma Dowdel, and how I love spending time with her. My grandparents' home has always been a place of security and love for me, and the book really resonated with me on that front. I also read the sequel to this book, which will also be posted. My favorite between the two is the sequel, so read on to find out more!
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