I love Richard Peck’s novels -- they are always full of laughter and heart and his latest, A Season of Gifts is no exception and therefore a perfect choice for the holidays. Grandma Dowdel, the feisty, wise and always surprising character first introduced in A Long Way From Chicago is back. Twelve-year-old Bob Barnhart is a preacher’s son and his family has just moved into the house next door to Mrs. Dowdel. “We Barnharts had moved in next door to a haunted house, if a house can be haunted by a living being." They only see glimpses of the person next door, but have heard her shotgun go off when she is shooting rodents and scaring hoodlums. The first time he meets his neighbor, he is naked, trussed like a turkey and stuck in her outhouse -- a memorable meeting.
We spend a year with Bob and his family getting to know each one of them but it is Grandma Dowdel who steals the show. We see her wisdom when she informs Reverend Barnhart the way to get his fledgling church going is to hold a good funeral and then she proceeds to conjour up someone to eulogize. Bob’s sister feels misplaced in her new home, but soon finds a kindred spirit in Grandma Dowdel, emulating her dress and mannerisms. It takes a while, but by Christmas Bob has finally figured out his eccentric neighbor: "She was no church woman, and she didn't neighbor, and Christmas was just another day to her. But she didn't wait for Christmas to give out her gifts." And that’s what the book is about; the season of gifts is whenever there is a need.
You don’t need to have read A Long Way From Chicago or it’s sequel, A Year Down Yonder, to love this latest novel about Mrs. Dowdel, but if you haven’t read them, you should. I promise at least one good laugh from each book. Ages 8 to 12. ~Patti