List $14.99

Grades 4 - 6

Written by Richard Peck - Audio book performed by Lois Smith - Unabridged Fiction - 3 COMPACT DISCS - 3 hours, 25 minutes

Publisher, Listening Library (April 2004)

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“Oh, didn’t I feel sorry for myself when the Wabash Railroad's Blue Bird train steamed into Grandma's town....”

Mary Alice’s summer days spent in Grandma Dowdel's hick town had been packed with enough surprises and drama to fill the double bill of any picture show. But now she is fifteen and facing a whole year with Grandma, a woman well known for shaking up the local populace. And all Mary Alice can know for certain is this: When trying to predict how life with Grandma might turn out...better not.

Richard Peck crafts a worthy successor to his Newbery Honor-winning A Long Way from Chicago in this richly entertaining story. With its masterfully interwoven tales of moonlit adventures, lovesick maidens, and fools made to suffer in unusual (and always hilarious) ways, it's a year listeners will want to return to time and again.

About the Author: Richard Peck has written over twenty-five acclaimed novels, including A Long Way From Chicago, Fair Weather, and The River Between Us, all available on audio from Listening Library. Among the honors he has received are Edgar Allan Poe Awards, ALA Notable Books and Best Books for Young Adults, and the Margaret A. Edwards Award, given for his distinguished body of work. A Long Way from Chicago was named the 1999 Newbery Honor Book, a National Book Award finalist, and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. It was within its pages that A Year Down Yonder's Mary Alice, Grandma Dowdel, and several of the characters that dared to cross their paths made a satisfying debut.

About the Performer: Lois Smith played off-Broadway in Defying Gravity, and on Broadway her performances in Buried Child and The Grapes of Wrath brought her Tony® nominations. She has alternated between stage, film, and television for her entire career. Her film credits include East of Eden, Fried Green Tomatoes, How to Make an American Quilt, Dead Man Walking, Larger Than Life, and Twister.