A Long Way from Chicago is set in a small town outside Chicago during the Great Depression. The story starts with Joey Remembering what his summers were like at Grandma’s. Each summer Joey and his sister, Mary Alice, took a train to a sleepy little town and spent an interesting vacation with their Grandma Dowdel. They did not look forward to the first few trips to Grandma’s, but after a few crazy adventures, they started looking forward to going. Each year brought a new dilemma that they had to solve. With Grandma’s crazy plans, the three of them take down a couple of town bullies, feed the drifters traveling through town, help two of the towns “love birds” elope, and help get a friend’s house back from the bank. Even though their adventures were crazy, they learned some valuable lessons from Grandma. She taught Joey and Mary Alice to be compassionate, just, kind, and loyal. Her actions were not always right, but the lessons they learned they would never forget. Years later Joey has one more adventure with Grandma and her sleepy little town... My opinion over the book A Long Way From Chicago is that it is a really good book. I thought the book was pretty cool and very entertaining because I love how all of Grandma's tricks perfectly end out. No matter what comes her way she always has a plan and it will end just her way. My favorite part was Shotguns Cheathan’s funeral. The cat crawled up in the coffin and made the fabric move. Everyone thought he was coming back to life but Grandma knew it was just the cat. Now she grabbed her shotgun and fired at the fabric and yelled “you've had your time, boy. You don't get no more!” She scared everybody out of the house. I would rate this book four out of five stars. I really like the book and recommend reading it.