A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck is a 2009 Newberry Honor book. In this book, two siblings, Joey and Mary Alice, visit their Grandma Dowdel. The children are from Chicago and for seven summers, they go and visit their grandma in downstate Illinois. Each trip is a new adventure as Grandma creates an uproar in the neighborhood, including having an in-home funeral, trespassing in private property to steal catfish, and even witnessing a phantom train brakeman. Every summer from 1929 through 1935 lets Joey and Mary Alice grow closer to their Grandma Dowdel as the times roll by.
I was able to relate to this book, not in the manner of having the adventures with my own grandma, but by it's location. I am from central Illinois near Piatt County where these summer stories take place. I really began to connect to the book about half-way through when they were paddling up Salt Creek. I myself have done this before and was excited to know that the story was so close to home. The book had a different story for each summer with ongoing and growing relationships between each. This is a great book and I would recommend it to others, especially those from central Illinois.
