A Season of Gifts

Mrs. Dowdel (of A Year Down Yonder and A Long Way from Chicago fame) is back, seen this time from the viewpoint of a preacher's son who has just moved into the house next door. As he and his family try to adjust and survive, they receive more than a little help from their crafty, indomitable next-door neighbor...though all given in her own, unique way. Richard Peck's writing in A Season of Gifts is as wonderful as ever...if not more so. Every sentence is perfectly crafted, and there are some so perfect, so unique, that they left me gaping. He writes a town you can see and smell and people you could touch (or maybe smack or maybe hug!). The plot is not his strongest...but with writing this crazy good, who cares? On second thought...we do. Because with this kind of character development, this remarkable crafting, this extraordinary pacing--imagine what a plot with more depth would do. Quite honestly, it would take this from one of the best children's books written this year to one of the best children's books written ever. And if you're looking for a great Christmas gift for someone with good taste in books...you found it.

I didn't think it could be done, but the return of Mrs.Dowdel and the related cast of characters from A YEAR DOWN YONDER kept me turning page after page, hungry for more. Introducing the new neighbors and using a holiday setting to conclude the tale were brilliant. Hopefully, Mrs. Dowdel will live on in future great books.

"Then the privy door banged open. "Filling the doorway and then some was Mrs. Dowdel. A copy of the Farm Journal and three corncobs were in one of her fists. I hadn't seen her up close. I'd never wanted to be anywhere near this close to her. Her specs crept to the end of her nose. We were nose to nose. "She didn't welcome surprises, and I came as one. All she'd wanted to do was use her privy, and here I was barring her way, naked a jaybird in my own personal web." Tied up tight in Grandma Dowdel's privy is eleven-year-old Bob Barnhart. Bob is a combination of preacher's son, new kid in town, and walking target for the town bullies. (I immediately surmised -- correctly -- that there is a new crop of Burdicks and a son of Augie Fluke's amongst this generation's crew of ruffians.) Bob's dad has gained the first pulpit "all his own," and he and Bob's mom have moved Bob and his two sisters into the next-to-last house on the street -- the street on which the last house is still occupied -- here in 1958 -- by Grandma Dowdel. "'But as the saying goes, if you can't get justice,' Mrs. Dowdel remarked, 'get even.'" After taking a taste of A SEASON OF GIFTS to be reassured that it was the real deal, I decided that there was time enough to permit the luxury of going back and rereading A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO and A YEAR DOWN YONDER before digging in and savoring this next chapter in the world of Grandma Dowdel. It's coming up on a decade since I'd read the stories told by her grandchildren Joey and Mary Alice, and those first two award-winning books are, still and again, an absolute pleasure and a joy to read. "'Hoo-boy,' Ruth Ann whispered. 'That's the oldest-looking woman I ever saw.' "Mrs. Dowdel nodded. 'She was only about three years behind me in school.'" A quarter-century after we last laid eyes on her, Grandma Dowdel is no less of a force to reckon with -- particularly if you are a troublemaker, cheapskate, or a fraud. To some extent, A SEASON OF GIFTS is reminiscent of one of those specials they put together a decade or so after some long-running and beloved television series finally goes off the air. This is somewhat ironic because if there is a subtle-but-important issue hinted at in this book, it is the isolating effect that the dawning age of television is already beginning to have upon many families in Grandma Dowdel's rural community. Nevertheless, so many of the characters and so much of the mischief that we came to know and love -- thanks to LONG WAY and YEAR DOWN YONDER -- are still alive and well in 1958. To experience them all once again is certainly a reason to rejoice.

Grandma Dowdel is back, and she is as fearless and crafty as ever. Richard Peck manages to convey a child's point of view while fully realizing the adult characters. The figures of speech that come from his characters' mouths add to the humor. Peck's books are always finely tuned, and this is no exception. The setting, southern Illinois in 1958, is clearly drawn. From the first line, "You could see from here the house was haunted," to the last, this slim volume will leave you wanting more. My only fear is that Grandma Dowdel is twenty years older than when we last saw her, and I want her to go on forever.

This book is another treasure in the books presented to us by Richard Peck. Grandmother is again at her tricks, but her heart is in the right place. A book for all ages and all regions. I can't wait to share it.