Books by Richard Peck

I just finished reading another book by Richard Peck. But rather than tell you about that only, I thought I'd share with you the other great books that I've read by this author, and the summaries that I'd written years ago.

The first book is A Long Way from Chicago. This 1999 Newbery Honor book follows siblings Joey and Mary Alice, who are from Chicago - a city where you can experience everything from Shirley Temple to John Dillinger. But they ain't seen nothing until they spend one week every summer in a small central Illinois town with Grandma Dowdel.

As Mary Alice said, "I don't think Grandma's a very good influence on us." The city kids sure learn a lot about country living: using a privy, catching fish in traps baited with cheese, making soap, and going to church rummage sales. And Grandma Dowdel teaches them plenty about justice, blackmail, and living the private life in the midst of public scrutiny.

As the kids get older, they dread going to Grandma's house more and want to leave her house less. While the Wabash Blue Bird pulls out of the station headed for Chicago, Joey and Mary Alice already wonder what next summer's visit will hold.

Next comes Peck's 2001 Newbery Medal Winner, A Year Down Yonder. At the end of the Depression, the 1917 recession has put Mary Alice's father out of work. Joey's out West working with the Civilian Conservation Corps, and Mary Alice is sent to spend a year by herself with Grandma Dowdel back in central Illinois until her folks can get back up on their feet.

Although Mary Alice is two years older since her last visit, Grandma hasn't changed at all. She's still up to her old tricks: besting the school bully, catching and punishing pranksters at Halloween, overcharging folks at the turkey shoot in order to support a war veteran, and revealing the true ancestry of one of the town's elite.

As the year comes to a close, Mary Alice dreads going home and leaving Grandma to make it on her own. But you never have to worry about Grandma - she'll outlive and outgive everyone around.

The third Richard Peck book I experienced takes a pause from the Grandma Dowdel stories. And yet The Teacher's Funeral is just as delightful a story. Russell Culver is a boy who lives in the backwoodsiest county in Indiana shortly after the turn of the 20th century. He, along with this brother Lloyd and best friend Charlie, is hopeful that school won't begin in August, on account of the fact that their teacher has died. Russell has dreams of going to the Dakotas and finding his fortunes there - but not if his sister Tansy has anything to say about it.

Tansy becomes the one-room school's next teacher, without even a high school education. Eight students will keep the school open, and when she doesn't have enough, Tansy goes looking for one more. She drills the kids in orinthology, geography, and mathematics, and readies herself for a visit from the man who will examine her for a teaching certificate. But all is not smooth sailing. There are plenty of mishaps around the school, many involving boys vying for Tansy's attention.

And yet the school year Russell never wanted to have turns out to be one of the best!

And so it was with great anticipation that I opened this most recent Peck novel, excited that once again it was a story that included the infamous Grandma Dowdel. A Season of Gifts takes place 15-20 years after A Year Down Yonder, and it is told from the perspective of 12-year-old Bob Barnhart, the preacher's son who's just moved in next door to Mrs. Dowdel.

Reverend Barnhart's church is run-down and his congregation is dried up. Mrs. Dowdel says that if you want to have the people come in, you've got to have a good funeral, and she knows just who to bury! Mrs. Dowdel doesn't "neighbor", but she lets little Ruth Ann follow her around and teaches her how to make pies and speak with colorful (but not naughty!) language. Mrs. Dowdel even has Bob drive the family car to go cut down a Christmas tree - only to find out that the tree belongs to someone else! It's classic Grandma Dowdel all over again.

I didn't find this book as entertaining as the others, but it was still a fun story to read. My favorite line is the Reverend's response to Bob's question as the two prepare for the "funeral":

"Dad, am I going to have to be a minister when I grow up?"

"If you hear the Call, you'll have to answer it."

"Oh," I said.

But then Dad said, thoughtful and far-off, "Or you may just want to let it ring."

I haven't read all of Richard Peck's novels, so they might not all be great to recommend, but I'd recommend these as great summer read-alouds for your kids.

The Boy Who Dared

Last night I finished my most recent book, The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. It is a work of historical fiction based on the life of Helmuth Hubener. Helmuth was a young boy in Germany during the time that Hitler was coming to power. He was awed by the men in uniform and envious of the older boys who got to be part of the Hitler Youth. Helmuth wanted to help Germany be a strong nation again.

But things started to change. Hitler outlawed anything that wasn't German, which included listening to non-German music, reading non-German books, and fraternizing with people who were not really German - like the Jews. Although Helmuth's Mormon faith told him to give respect to those in government, Helmuth believed he could not go against his conscience. Although to the outside world he acted like a good Nazi, late at night he began to write and distribute pamphlets that spoke about the truth of what was really going on in Hitler's regime, based on the information he learned from the BBC radio broadcast out of London.

Eventually Helmuth was suspected of acting against the Nazis. He was put in jail, convicted of treason, and was executed a little over two months later.

The story is told in third person, beginning on the morning of the day that will be Helmuth's last. As he is waiting to find out if he will be executed, he goes back in his mind and remembers what brought him to this place. Therefore, the story is told almost exclusively in flashback. That does help to increase the suspense a bit, but overall, the telling of this story was pretty tame. It was educational to read a novel from this angle of history. But I would be more interested in reading the memoirs of Helmuth's two friends who also distributed the illegal pamphlets. If you would like to check them out, here are the titles:

Before the Blood Tribunal by Rudi Wobbe
The Price by Karl-Heinz Schnibbe

By the way, The Boy Who Dared is not the only fictionalized account of Helmuth Hubener's life. Another book entitled Brothers in Valor was published by Michael Tunnel seven years before this book hit the shelves. Have any of you read these books? Let me know what you think of them!