Summary
Every summer, from the time he was nine, Joey and his sister Mary Alice took the train from Chicago to spend a week with their Grandma in small town Illinois. And when they got there they never knew what to expect, because, you see, Grandma Dowdel was the scandal of the town. As a matter of fact, each year the surprises grew more outrageous with their never predictable grandma. A funny, fast moving, and ultimately heartwarming story that will stay with listeners long after its telling has been completed.
Richard Peck was born in Decatur, Illinois on April 5, 1934. He received a bachelor's degree in English literature from DePauw University in 1956. After graduation, he served two years in the U.S. Army in Germany, where he worked as a chaplain's assistant writing sermons and completing paperwork. He received a master's degree in English from Southern Illinois University in 1959. He taught high school English in Illinois and New York City.
He stopped teaching in 1971 to write a novel. His first book, Don't Look and It Won't Hurt, was published in 1972 and was adapted as the 1992 film Gas Food Lodging. He wrote more than 40 books for both adults and young adults including Amanda/Miranda, Those Summer Girls I Never Met, The River Between Us, A Long Way from Chicago, A Season of Gifts, The Teacher's Funeral, Fair Weather, Here Lies the Librarian, On the Wings of Heroes, and The Best Man. A Year down Yonder won the Newbery Medal in 2001 and Are You in the House Alone? won an Edgar Award. The Ghost Belonged to Me was adapted into the film Child of Glass. He received the MAE Award in 1990 and the National Humanities Medal in 2002. He died following a long battle with cancer on May 23, 2018 at the age of 84.
(Bowker Author Biography)
![Cover image for A long way from Chicago : [a novel in stories]](/client/assets/5.725/ctx//client/images/no_image.png "Cover image for A long way from Chicago : [a novel in stories]")