The book a long way from Chicago by Richard Peck was about a boy named Joey and his sister Mary Alice. They live with there parents in Chicago. Every year in august they go to their grandma's house to visit in a sleepy Illinois town. Every time they go something different happens and they always seem to have fun. One year they went to the fair because their grandma made one of her famous pies. Another year they went fishing and saw the sheriff in his underwear.

My favorite character was Grandma Dowdel. She was my favorite character because she was really old but was always fun. She was also very tough. My favorite part of the book was when Grandma dowdel told the Ernie Cowgill that she wasn't getting milk the next day because she was going to be out but she wasn't. She just wanted to see if the cowgill boys would break into her house while she was gone. She was right they broke into the house but Grandma was waiting for them and she had her shotgun ready and through a cherry bomb at them.

My recommendation for this book is you should read it. I think this way because it was a very interesting book and very exiting. I think this book is geared more toward older kids more then younger kids because it was a little challenging for me. Although this book was a good book I found it a little confusing. I found it confusing because it was a different year every chapter and the chapters had nothing to do with each other.