2001 Newbery Award Winner
Richard Peck
A Year Down Yonder
I recommend that you read the entire acceptance speech linked above. If you are not familiar with Peck's writing, it will give you a great introduction to his humor and heart. If you are already a fan, you may simply love him more.
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A Year Down Yonder, the 2001 Newbery winner, is his second book featuring Grandma Dowdel; the first, A Long Way From Chicago, was a 1999 Newbery Honor Book. I'll just quote Peck here to explain her: "And who is Grandma Dowdel? Since nobody but a reader ever became a writer, Grandma Dowdel marches in a long tradition. She is the American tall tale in a Lane Bryant dress. There's more than a bit of Paul Bunyan about her, and a touch of the Native American trickster tradition: she may just be Kokopelli without the flute."
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As you read, you'll be astonished and shocked by Grandma Dowdel's behavior throughout both books just as her grandchildren Joey and Mary Alice are. You'll also laugh out loud and witness Grandma's giant heart, sense of fairness, and the depth of her love as these things are revealed.
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"I looked up from my desk and there in the door stood Grandma Dowdel with a 12-guage double barreled Winchester shotgun loose in her trigger happy hand."
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~Richard Peck in reference to his first glimpse of Grandma Dowdel.
Most of all, the old survivors in my stories embody the underlying message in all fiction: that in the long run you will be held responsible for the consequences of your actions. A serious message, and so a comedy is called for.
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~from Richard Peck's Newbery acceptance speech
Connected Stories featuring Grandma Dowdel
click each cover and you'll be directed to its page on goodreads.
Peck first conceived of Grandma Dowdel when he recieved a postcard from Harry Mazer inviting him to write a story involving a gun for a book of short stories Mazer envisioned. Peck wanted to "give it a shot" and do it with a different kind of story than those he thought might be typical for such a book. Grandma Dowdel was born. The story, Shotgun Cheetham's Last Night Above Ground, was first published in Mazer's collection entitled Twelve Shots in 1998. It can also be found in Past Perfect, Present Tense which is a collection of Richard Peck's own short stories.
The next year, Grandma Dowdel showed up in her very own novel, A Long Way From Chicago, which covers seven summers of visits from her two grandchildren, Joey and Mary Alice.
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Then there was the Newbery Winner, A Year Down Yonder, which focuses on fifteen year old Mary Alice's visit with Grandma in 1937. Joey is off with the Civilian Conservation Corps and money is tight for Mary Alice's parents. It means a summer with Grandma for her : "a city girl, in a town that didn't even have a picture show."
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Twenty years pass before we see Grandma Dowdel again when she's got new neighbors in A Season of Gifts.