A Long Way from Chicago

By Richard Peck
1998, Dial Books for Young Readers

I took this book to read on the train to Chicago. I thought it was only appropriate, and it’s pretty small so it didn’t make my purse too heavy. It’s a fun compilation of stories about a boy and his younger sister who visit their grandmother every summer starting in 1929 through 1935. They are fun little vignettes full of crazy “country” characters and a grandma who takes the cake in the ‘dances to the beat of her own drummer’ awards. I loved how certain characters came back each year and as the kids grew their understanding of who their grandmother was and why she did the things she did grew also. Set in the depression era, it’s a historical fiction story that is a great read.