Was she seeing herself fifty years hence? “Ma’am, I’m making inquiries about the late Shotgun Cheatham.” He shuffled his feet, wanting to get one of them in the door. “He got it in the Civil War.”. “Part vaudeville act, part laconic tall tale, the stories, with their dirty tricks and cunning plots, make you laugh out loud at the farce and snicker at the reversals. Most farmers came to town horse-drawn, though there were Fords, and the banker, L. J. Weidenbach, drove a Hupmobile. A Long Way from Chicago Summary & Study Guide Description. We knew kids lie all the time, but Grandma was no kid, and she could tell some whoppers. That was the day she was working tomatoes on the black iron range, and her kitchen was hot enough to steam the calendars off the wall. Prohibition was on in those days, which meant that selling liquor was against the law. Great Book! With the tall talk, irony, insult, and vulgarity, there's also a heartfelt sense of the Depression's time and place, when a knot of people wait outside the store for the day-old bread to become half price, and Grandma defies the sheriff, poaches catfish, and fries it up to feed the Depression drifters with her home-brewed beer ("They didn't thank her. Whether it's scaring a pretentious newspaper man back to the city or stealing the sheriff's boat and sailing right past him as he drunkenly dances with his buddies at the Rod & Gun Club, she never ceases to amaze her grandchildren with her gall and cunning behavior. By nightfall a green pine coffin stood on two sawhorses in the bay window of the front room, and people milled in the yard. “Who was Shotgun Cheatham anyway?” Mary Alice asked. He was sharp-faced, and he’d sweated through his hatband. Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2017. ! . For one thing, at Grandma’s you had to go outside to the privy. Grandma had already heard it on the grapevine that Shotgun was no more, though she wasn’t the first person people ran to with news. He flinched because he had it on good authority that she’d just been let out of an insane asylum. In each pitcher she’d stuck an American flag. RICHARD PECK (1934-2018) was born in Decatur, Illinois and lived in New York City for nearly 50 years. “Who was Shotgun Cheatham anyway?” Mary Alice asked. Every word. Something went wrong. She was so big, and the town was so small. Grandma’s chin would drop, then jerk back. She wasn’t what you’d call a popular woman. You know how you ladies love to talk. Shotgun hadn’t been exactly fresh when they discovered his body. He’ll spend his last night above ground in my front room, and you’re invited.”. A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO - ENGLISH by RICHARD PECK. She suspected that Mother and Dad would take off for a week of fishing up in Wisconsin in our absence. It was an instant hit for me. Grandma reached down for something in her sewing basket. “Warm, ain’t it?” she said straight at him, but looking everywhere. Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2019. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Even though it's technically a 4th grade level and a lower lexile range, I think it can be used through the middle grades. Of course the reporter had been lied to big-time up at the cafe, but Grandma’s lies were more interesting, even historical. The acclaimed author of 35 novels for children and young adults, he won the Newbery Medal for A Year Down Yonder, a Newbery Honor for A Long Way from Chicago, the Scott O’Dell Award for The River Between Us, the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Are You in the House Alone?, a Boston Globe-Horn BookAward Honor for The Best Man, and the Christopher Medal for The Teacher’s Funeral. 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