Mary Alice�s family is struggling to survive in Chicago during the 1937 recession, so she is sent to stay with her grandma in rural Illinois until things get better. She doesn�t want to go, but grows to love her grandmother and the small town.
The setting is vividly described and essential to the story. It is set in a small �hick town� in Illinois in 1937. It is completely different from Mary Alice�s home in Chicago. All the neighbors know each other and all of the gossip about everyone. The small town setting allows for things to happen that couldn�t have otherwise. For instance, the town is real into Halloween and playing pranks. Some of the pranks that are played, such as trying to destroy someone�s outhouse, would get you arrested someplace else, but not in this town. There�s also the fact that Grandma steals pecans, pumpkins, and whatever else she can find from the neighbors. The pecan tree owner is well aware of this, but does nothing to stop Grandma. This is very different from the way people are today, where stealing an orange off of someone�s tree in Florida will get you shot. The town is so small that it has cliques, just like a small high school would. For instance, the members of the Daughters of the American Revolution are the �popular girls� whereas Effie Wilcox and Grandma are not. These cliques cause some interesting events to take place in the story, that I will explain more about later.
The main characters are Mary Alice and Grandma. They are completely believable and by the end of the story you feel like you�ve known them your entire life. Mary Alice is scared to death of living with Grandma because Grandma is a bully, not affectionate, and hard to get along with. But as the story progresses, we see that not only were Mary Alice�s perceptions incorrect, but that Mary Alice is a lot like her grandmother. They are both headstrong and can be bossy at times, but both have huge hearts. �Between antic capers, Peck reveals a marshmallow heart inside Grandma's rock-hard exterior and adroitly exposes the mutual, unspoken affection she shares with her granddaughter� (Publishers Weekly 2000). Grandma acts like she doesn�t care about people, but we see how she gives money to help an old woman whose son was injured in the war, and goes to check on her neighbors after a tornado. We also see how much she loves Mary Alice when she saves to get Mary Alice�s brother a ticket to come see them for Christmas (Peck 73). We also see how Grandma acts like she doesn�t care about Mary Alice�s cats, yet she saves their lives during the tornado and then lies about it because she doesn�t want to admit that she cares about them (Peck 118). We also see how conniving Grandma can be. When some local boys try to destroy her �privy� and tie a can to Mary Alice�s cat�s tail, Grandma gets one of them back by dumping glue on his head and stealing his knife. When she sees him later at a Halloween party, she purposely pulls out the boy�s own knife to use to cut him a piece of the pie she�s made, just to rub in the fact that she won the Halloween pranks battle. We see how Mary Alice can be just as conniving as Grandma when she makes fake Valentines with Ina-Rae to anger Carleen, a popular girl that she can�t stand, but also to boost Ina-Rae�s popularity (Peck 86). We see their faults as well as their strengths. We see their bossy hard exteriors, but how they can be loving and kind too. We see how they grow. Grandma comes to love having Mary Alice there and Mary Alice loves being there, but Grandma knows that Mary Alice�s home is with her parents. Grandma is revealed mainly through her actions, while Mary Alice is revealed through her thoughts.
The plot definitely grows out of the characters� actions. The plot focuses on one year, from the time Mary Alice gets to Grandma�s, to the time she leaves. The plot doesn�t have one climax or central conflict. The plot is made up of all the drama that ensues during that one year. Mary Alice�s main conflict at the start is simply adjusting to her new life. But by the end, she doesn�t want to leave the town. There�s a lot of action and the story is definitely fast paced. For instance, there�s the scene where Maxine runs out of the house naked with a snake draped over her (Peck 106). There are several subplots that appear now and then throughout the story. For instance, there�s Mary Alice�s ongoing conflict with Carleen. We see Mary Alice win the big battle in this little war when Royce asks Mary Alice if he can write her when he goes off to college. We see Mary Alice win the whole war when we find out that she and Royce were eventually married.
The theme seems to be a mixture of family love and to not judge a book by its cover. Grandma is not entirely as she appears to be and neither is the town. Mary Alice thinks life will be boring in this little town with her bully Grandma, but she finds that she loves her Grandma and that the town is full of excitement.
The story is told from Mary Alice�s point of view. There is an interesting use of language that gives this book a historic feel, but doesn�t detract from the story. For instance, Mary Alice says of Grandma, �She was jumpier than a jackrabbit� (Peck 66). Grandma says at one point �Watch out them stars don�t dig your scalp� (Peck 68). It�s exactly how we would imagine a tough old country woman would talk in the 1930�s. �The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language��She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites� (Kirkus Reviews 2000). The language is very descriptive as well. Mary Alice says of the night of the Christmas play, �The church threw stained-glass light out on the snow�the whole town became a little village under a Christmas tree, with the electric train circling and the glowing cardboard houses and the steepled church, sunk in cotton snow� (Peck 68). The most important part of this story, stylistically, is the humor. �The novel never loses its charming sense of humor even though the vignettes ultimately deal with important issues such as class, gossip, and friendship� (Voice of Youth Advocates 2000). One of the funniest scenes is when Grandma has the Daughters of the American Revolution meeting at her house. It�s revealed that one of the members was actually born to a very low class family and adopted by a wealthy well bred family. Grandma has spiked the punch and all of the women get hysterical and run from the house. In addition to the funny scenes, the characters say funny things. For instance, when Carleen has too much lipstick on at the play, the teacher says �you look like you�re bleeding from the mouth� (Peck 68). The characters� sarcasm and funny one liners add a lot to the humor of this story. This is a story that children as well as young adults will enjoy.
Kirkus Reviews. 2000. Kirkus Reviews. In Books in Print [database online]. Available
from http://www.booksinprint.com/bip. Accessed 10 November 2004.
Publishers Weekly. 2000. Publishers Weekly. In Books in Print [database online]. Available
from http://www.booksinprint.com/bip. Accessed 10 November 2004.
Voice of Youth Advocates. 2000. Voice of Youth Advocates. In Books in Print [database online]. Available
from http://www.booksinprint.com/bip. Accessed 10 November 2004.
