A Long Way from Chicago: A Novel in Stories

This Newbery Honor Winner and National Book Award Finalist is an unforgettable modern classic and features the debut of the larger-than-life Grandma Dowdel

What happens when Joey and his sister, Mary Alice--two city slickers from Chicago--make their annual summer visits to Grandma Dowdel's seemingly sleepy Illinois town?
August 1929: They see their first corpse, and he isn't resting easy.
August 1930: The Cowgill boys terrorize the town, and Grandma fights back.
August 1931: Joey and Mary Alice help Grandma trespass, poach, catch the sheriff in his underwear, and feed the hungry--all in one day.

And there's more, as Joey and Mary Alice make seven summer trips to Grandma's--each one funnier than the year before--in self-contained chapters that readers can enjoy as short stories or take together for a rip-roaringly good novel. In the tradition of American humorists from Mark Twain to Flannery O'Connor, popular author Richard Peck has created a memorable world filled with characters who, like Grandma herself, are larger than life and twice as entertaining.

Newbery Honor Winner
National Book Award Finalist
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
ALA Notable Book
New York Times Best Seller

"A rollicking celebration of an eccentric grandmother and childhood memories."--School Library Journal (starred review)

"A novel that skillfully captures the nuances of small-town life ...] Remarkable and fine."--Kirkus (starred review)

"Fresh, warm and anything but ordinary."--Publishers Weekly

Author: Richard Peck
Publisher: Dial Books
Published: 09/01/1998
Pages: 160
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.82w x 0.69d
ISBN: 9780803722903
Audience: Ages 9-12

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5
Point Value: 5
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 27940 / Long Way from Chicago


Award: Rhode Island Teen Book Award - Nominee
Award: Massachusetts Children's Book Award - Nominee
Award: Children's Books of Distinction Awards - Winner
Award: Newbery Medal - Honor Book
Award: Young Reader's Choice Award - Nominee
Award: Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award - Nominee
Award: Iowa Children's Choice (ICCA) Award - Nominee
Award: National Book Awards - Nominee
Award: Young Hoosier Book Award - Nominee
Award: Sunshine State Young Reader's Award - Nominee


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 07/06/1998 pg. 61
Booklist 09/01/1998 pg. 113
School Library Journal 10/01/1998 pg. 144
Kirkus Review - Children 09/01/1998 pg. 1290
New York Times 03/14/1999 pg. 30
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/1998 pg. 72 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style
ALA Notable Children's Books 01/01/1999 pg. 1309
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/1999 pg. 72 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style

About the Author

RICHARD PECK (1934-2018) was born in Decatur, Illinois and lived in New York City for nearly 50 years. The acclaimed author of 35 novels for children and young adults, he won the Newbery Medal for A Year Down Yonder, a Newbery Honor for A Long Way from Chicago, the Scott O'Dell Award for The River Between Us, the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Are You in the House Alone?, a Boston Globe-Horn BookAward Honor for The Best Man, and the Christopher Medal for The Teacher's Funeral. He was the first children's author ever to have been awarded a National Humanities Medal, and was twice a National Book Award Finalist.