Having just finished a pretty heavy classic, I decided to find a quick, fun read. Someone gave me a stack of Newbery Award books a while back, and since I remembered loving A Year Down Yonder by the same author, I chose this one. Turns out that A Long Way from Chicago is the prequel to A Year Down Yonder, and it's every bit as entertaining.
With chapter headings such as, "Shotgun Cheatham's Last Night Above Ground," and "A One-Woman Crime Wave," you know you're not in for your run-of-the-mill coming-of-age novel. Told from the perspective of a young boy, it chronicles the summer visits of Joey and his sister, Mary Alice, as they visit their eccentric, cranky, and very large grandma in her small town. In each chapter, you get to watch the children grow up, but you also learn just a snippet more about Grandma. After each adventure you fall a bit more in love with her--her faults as well as her good qualities.
I would totally recommend these books for kids age nine or ten and up--real gems!
