A long way from Chicago - Richard Peck

Joey and his little sister are not too excited about their first visit to Grandma Dowdell in smalltown Illinois. She's an old lady - how can she possibly entertain them for a whole week! But from the moment they step off the train from Chicago, they know they had Grandma all wrong. What follows, over seven annual visits , is a hilarious and often touching account of a childhood spent with a larger than life grandmother. If she isn't holding her nasty neighbours at gunpoint, or catching the local sherriff in his underwear, Grandma Dowdell is doing a spot of poaching or cooking up a storm in her kitchen. Joey and Mary Alice observe all, and learn a thing or two about themselves in the process . . .

Narrated by Joey, this is an unmissable novel - to be read and loved for years to come.