A Long Way from Chicago

Written by Richard Peck in 1998 and told as a series of related short stories, A Long Way From Chicago is a novel about two siblings and their adventures with their grandmother over the span of six summers from 1929 to 1935. The work was a Newbery Honor book in 1999, and its sequel, A Year Down Yonder, won the Newbery Medal for children’s literature in 2001. Richard Peck (1934-2018) was the award-winning American novelist of over 40 books for young readers, and his achievements include the Edgar Award (1977) and the Margaret Edwards Award (1990). Born and raised in Illinois, Peck received a bachelor’s degree in English from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Southern Illinois University. After teaching English at the high school and junior high levels, he left to pursue writing full time, and his debut novel, Don’t Look and It Won’t Hurt, was published in 1971.

This guide follows the 2011 Puffin Books edition of A Long Way From Chicago.

Plot Summary

A Long Way From Chicago is told in the short story cycle format. Each chapter is a self-contained story that shares common settings, characters, and information with the others.