A Year Down Yonder

A Year Down Yonder

By Richard Peck

I loved this book! And I cannot wait to read others by the author, Richard Peck! I just finished reading A Year Down Yonder to my almost 9-year-old daughter. Boy how this book came to life. The characters are so real, I found myself still thinking of them after we had read the last page and closed the book.

One of the characters is a very-able, no-nonsense grandma that I absolutely loved. She's a big woman, with a heart to match, though she wouldn't want you to know it. There's much history to be learned from this book: how hard life was during the depression, but without making it a book about only the depression--there's too much life in the book! People have always lived through hard times and this book portrays the kind of people who did just that. There are important life lessons learned by a 16-year-old girl who loves her family.

There is one scene in the book where a woman runs through town with no clothes on, but she was simply getting her very-embarrassing just reward, and the scene is so comical I laughed out loud! Beware, however, that this scene might give rise to some discussions about what is acceptable behavior for a lady.

This book gets a big thumbs-up from The Healthy Homeschool!