Here is a story about my Granny and my one and only cousin Daniel. Unless, of course, you have a southern grandma like me and my sister do. So anyways, I have never been in a real live book club, but I don't know what you would actually discuss about this book. (Meaning, I have never actually belonged to a book club, or attended a live meeting, but I DO love talking about books on this website - oh my gosh, is that like the dorky guys who never actually talk to girls in real life, but chat with girls online all the time and think that counts?) My sister recommended this book to me after she read it in her book club. It's about two kids from Chicago who go and visit their Grandma in the country every summer, and how she is exactly like my funny Grandma (aka 'Granny') in North Carolina. This book has already made the jump onto my favorites list it's one of those feel-good stories I look forward to reading again and again. And she's also one of the most delightful literary characters I've ever encountered. The sheriff even calls her a 'one-woman crime wave.' She may indeed seem to be as tough as a boot - after the first summer, Grandma doesn't even meet the kids at the train station she figures that they can find their own way to her house, but Joey, Mary Alice, and the reader soon come to realize that she's something of an old softy inside.

Grandma is not above stretching the truth or stealing borrowing someone's boat to achieve her goals. Over the years, Grandma Dowdel gets the kids involved in all sorts of hilarious adventures - catching criminals, helping some star-crossed lovers elope, and showing up the snooty banker's wife. As the years went by though, Mary Alice and I grew up, and though Grandma never changed, we'd seem to see a different woman every summer. And tough! She was tough as an old boot, or so we thought. She was old too, or so we thought - old as the hills. She was so big and the town was so small. 'I don't think Grandma's a very good influence on us,' Mary Alice said.Įvery August, Joey Dowdel and his kid sister Mary Alice spend a week at their Granny's house.

A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck