From: Kathleen Horning <horning>
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 10:05:38 -0600

It's been interesting to read people's comparisons of these two books over the past week. Both are funny, have larger-than-life characters, and feature a young narrator spending time away from home with a quirky adult relative.

While "Joey Pigza" may have more immediate popular appeal among young readers, I think "A Year Down Yonder" is just a step above it in terms of the criteria that the Newbery Committee must consider.

First, it excells at character development, both of the protagonist, Mary Alice, and of her grandmother. Grandma Dowdel is presented as a true eccentric, and by the end of the novel, readers can really begin to see a bit beneath her odd exterior, just as Mary Alice can. I noticed, too, how Mary Alice becomes a bit more like her grandmother as the story progresses. The secondary charaters, too, emerge as individuals: Mrs. Wilcox, Old Man Nyquist, the teacher, the WPA artist, the neighboring WWI veteran in an attic bedroom, and the post mistress, for example.

Also I think Peck did a better job at delineating setting. One got a real feel for the small town where Mary Alice spent a year, not only through the people that lived in it but through the authors description of buildings, roads, and nature. I really could picture it all the while I was reading it, just as I could picture Grandma Dowdel's house. There is a line near the end of the book, when Mary Alice says rather wistfully, "I knew this town as I'd never know Chicago."

Thirdly, Peck's style is exquisite. His judicious use of hyperbole and exaggeration, both in the narrative and in the dialogue, gives the story the feeling of an American tall tale, but he doesn't overdo it, so the characters and place feel real, too. He shares an embellished memory of small town life in the past century, rather like the stories many of us have heard from our elders, but told with the wit and verve of the best storytellers. You can open the book to any page and find a finely crafted sentence.

Finally, to make one last comparison: it's interesting that in both books, the main characters bring a small pet along with them: Joey brings his Chihuahua, Pablo, and Mary Alice brings her cat, Bootsie. While both pets provide comfort to the protagonists, as well as some comic relief in the story (Pablo gets his ear pierced and Bootsie brings Mary Alice "gifts" such as a dead mouse and ripe frog), Mary Alice's pet is also used as a literary device: Bootsie and her kitten, April, can be seen metaphorically as representing Grandma Doudel and Mary Alice. When Bootsie, the former house cat, is turned outdoors to fend for herself, she becomes a scrappy survivor, only once revealing herself to be proud and protective of her kitten. During the tornado scene near the end of the book, the cat and kitten are key to understanding the depth of the relationship between Grandma and Mary Alice. If readers miss this interpretation, it won't be a big deal, but, to my mind, that's an example of what raises "A Year Down Yonder" up to Newbery status: there's a bit more beneath the surface waiting to be discovered by careful readers. And, as an added bonus, it's a book that casual readers can just plain enjoy!

Kathleen T. Horning (horning at education.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706 608&3930 FAX: 608&2I33
Received on Mon 22 Jan 2001 10:05:38 AM CST