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Reviews for A year down yonder
School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Gr 5-8-Peck charms readers once again with this entertaining sequel to A Long Way from Chicago (Dial, 1998). This time, 15-year-old Mary Alice visits Grandma Dowdel alone for a one-year stay, while her parents struggle through the recession of 1937 looking for jobs and better housing. With her older brother, Joey, working out west in a government program, Mary Alice takes a turn at recounting memorable and pivotal moments of her year with Grandma. Beneath the woman's fierce independence and nonconformity, Mary Alice discovers compassion, humor, and intuition. She watches her grandmother exact the perfect revenge on a classmate who bullies her on the first day of school, and she witnesses her "shameless" tactics to solicit donations from Veteran's Day "burgoo" eaters whose contributions are given to Mrs. Abernathy's blind, paralyzed, war-veteran son. From her energetic, eccentric, but devoted Grandma, she learns not only how to cook but also how to deal honestly and fairly with people. At story's end, Mary Alice returns several years later to wed the soldier, Royce McNabb, who was her classmate during the year spent with Grandma. Again, Peck has created a delightful, insightful tale that resounds with a storyteller's wit, humor, and vivid description. Mary Alice's memories capture the atmosphere, attitudes, and lifestyle of the times while shedding light on human strengths and weak- nesses.-Gerry Larson, Durham School of the Arts, NC (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Gr. 6^-10. With the same combination of wit, gentleness, and outrageous farce as Peck's Newbery Honor book, Long Way from Chicago (1998), this sequel tells the story of Joey's younger sister, Mary Alice, 15, who spends the year of 1937 back with Grandma Dowdel in a small town in Illinois. It's still the Depression; Dad has lost his job, and Mary Alice has been sent from Chicago to live with Grandma and enroll in the "hick-town's" 25-student high school. As in the first book, much of the fun comes from the larger-than-life characters, whether it's the snobbish DAR ladies or the visiting WPA artist, who paints a nude picture of the postmistress (nude, not naked; he studied in Paris). The wry one-liners and tall tales are usually Grandma's ("When I was a girl, we had to walk in our sleep to keep from freezing to death"), or Mary Alice's commentary as she looks back ("Everybody in this town knew everything about you. They knew things that hadn't even happened yet" ). That adult perspective is occasionally intrusive and Mary Alice sometimes seems younger than 15, though her awkward romance with a classmate is timeless. The heart of the book is Grandma--huge and overbearing, totally outside polite society. Just as powerful is what's hidden: Mary Alice discovers kindness and grace as well as snakes in the attic. Most moving is Mary Alice's own growth. During a tornado she leaves her shelter to make sure that Grandma is safe at home. In fact, as Mary Alice looks back, it's clear that Grandma has remained her role model, never more generous than when she helped her granddaughter leave. --Hazel Rochman
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
In this hilarious and poignant sequel to A Long Way to Chicago, Peck once again shows that country life is anything but boring. Chicago-bred Mary Alice (who has previously weathered annual week-long visits with Grandma Dowdel) has been sentenced to a year-long stay in rural Illinois with her irrepressible, rough and gruff grandmother, while Joey heads west with the Civilian Conservation Corps, and her parents struggle to get back on their feet during the 1937 recession. Each season brings new adventures to 15-year-old Mary Alice as she becomes Grandma's partner in crime, helping to carry out madcap schemes to benefit friends and avenge enemies. Around Halloween, for example, the woman, armed with wire, a railroad spike and a bucket of glue, outsmarts a gang of pranksters bent on upturning her privy. Later on, she proves just as apt at squeezing change out of the pockets of skinflints, putting prim and proper DAR ladies in their place and arranging an unlikely match between a schoolmarm and a WPA artist of nude models. 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. Like Mary Alice, audience members will breathe a sigh of regret when the eventful year "down yonder" draws to a close. Ages 10-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved


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August 25, 2005
Steve is a raging alcoholic, and his wife, Sheila, violently abuses him when he drinks. Their two young daughters witness the fighting and are trapped in a war zone. Is it too late for this family to be saved?
They were childhood sweethearts and have been married for 13 years. Now, their marriage and family are on the brink of disaster.
See the shocking home video.
Moving Forward
Dr. Phil helps Steve and Sheila take the first steps to end their vicious cycle of alcoholism and abuse, and keep the kids out of the crossfire.
How can they start to heal their family?
Update: How are they now?
DrPhil.com Exclusive
After the show, Dr. Phil talks with Steve and Sheila and the audience.
What you didn't see.

subset: commoncrawl


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iOS iPhone Sports
The iPhone application of Orcières 1850 is bringing comfort and safety to Oricères ski resort. Brought to you by the tourism office. This app leverages the power of iPhone technology to provide you with a better skiing experience.
- a dynamic map of the ski area,
- GPS localization in the resort,
- a detailed weather forecast of the ski resort,
- a complete address book of all the stores and services available,
- emergency phone numbers.
This application was developed by Skiplan Lumiplan Montagne, specialist of digital information for ski resorts.
Continue use of GPS running in the background can decrease battery level.
What's New
Discover the all new summer version of the application Orcières


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Photos: History of Fung Wah safety problems
Photos: History of Fung Wah safety problems
A Fung Wah bus crashed into a bank on June 23, 2008, in New York's Chinatown, after being hit by a dump truck, killing one person and injuring six.
A westbound Fung Wah Bus skidded off the Mass. Pike right before the Allston-Cambridge exit on Feb. 14, 2007.
Rescue workers helped passengers after a Fung Wah bus overturned on an Interstate 290 off-ramp on Sept. 5, 2006, in Auburn.
A Fung Wah bus from Boston to New York burst into flames on Aug. 16, 2005, on a Connecticut highway, just moments after passengers fled the bus.
All 45 passengers escaped without injury after the fire.
Damage from the August 2005 bus fire.
A Fung Wah Bus Company driver passed his paperwork to state inspectors during unannounced bus inspections at the South Station bus terminal on Aug. 24, 2005.


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In 2007, children under the age of five who were living in refugee camps in Kenya had a one in four chance of getting malaria, which can be deadly without treatment. Through distribution of insecticide treated nets, improved treatment, and community education the figure has now been reduced to less than one in fifty. Similar progress has been made in reducing the incidence of malaria in other refugee settings throughout the world, saving many young lives. It's just one example of many life-saving programs implemented by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which receives significant support from the United States.
The U.S. government, through the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, is pleased to highlight our recent $126.8 million contribution to UNHCR. With this contribution, the United States will have provided more than $285 million toward UNHCR's 2011 operations so far this year.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the legal foundation for UNHCR's work. A lot has changed since 1951, but the core principles the convention established -- the rights of refugees and the obligation of states to protect these rights -- have remained the same. The assistance UNHCR provides, and the number of people it helps, however, has grown tremendously over the decades since the organization was established. The malaria eradication project described above is just one example of how refugee assistance has changed and grown over the years.
UNHCR assistance has expanded in part because the nature of the crises that cause displacement has changed since 1951. Over the last sixty years, UNHCR has gone from providing emergency relief to European refugees who were displaced by World War II, to supporting refugees and uprooted people in both short and long-term refugee situations, such as Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, Somali refugees in Kenya, and Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
Increasingly, modern-day conflicts pit domestic ethnic groups, clans, religions, or ideologies against one another, with combatants and civilians dangerously intermingled. Internal displacements -- or situations where people have fled their communities but have not crossed an international border -- have increased as well. Adding another layer of complexity, many refugees and displaced people have fled to urban areas in recent years rather than established camps, which brings its own set of challenges in delivering assistance.
Providing assistance to large groups of people is an enormous challenge, but when you consider the needs of individual refugees and their families, the responsibility is daunting. Many refugees and displaced people have faced considerable personal trauma -- they've been uprooted from their lives and homes, sometimes exposed to horrific violence or sexual assault, or have lost family members -- and they may be in uprooted situations for years. Some refugees may be stateless -- meaning they don't have documentation as a citizen to any country and live in legal limbo. UNHCR programs support a wide range of registration, health care, psycho-social welfare, education, nutrition, and livelihood assistance for refugees and displaced people in many kinds of difficult situations.
In addition to providing assistance to people in complex and often dangerous operating environments, UNHCR works to find long-term, sustainable solutions for refugees by helping those who voluntarily wish to return to their home country to do so if the situation allows, and if not, to integrate into their host country's society, or resettle in a third country (the United States resettles more refugees than all other resettlement countries combined, including around 73,000 refugees who found new homes in America in 2010).
The U.S. government is proud to support these programs on behalf of the American people. As UNHCR's largest donor, we work closely with the organization to monitor and evaluate regularly the programs that U.S. funds help to support.
You can follow the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration on Facebook.
Mehmet N. in Turkey writes:
Up to help refugees, the refugee does not create the conditions need to take precautions in advance.
Palgye in South Korea writes:
Middle East Unfamiliar area, but
Libya to end the war, been maintaining good relations with Libya, Italy to serve as a good possibility I think. Possibility, a successful revolution in Egypt to provide more jobs for its citizens, Libya is also thought possible. And, Muhammad Hosni Mubarak on Middle East peace effort is a former president, had a dictator, but ... Italy and Libya in exchange for the advantages and disadvantages of policies to talk about the chance of success. My social position is acting oblivious ...
Japan to recover from an earthquake .. That's a lot of budget allocation -a $49 billion budget "http://edition.cnn.com/ASIA/" Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan's two sweating. Seen here in the media, albeit
Now is a good co-workers think she's got. Skills in specific areas still find that there are many differences to think. My opinion is for the robot. robot


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The Chronicles of Narnia are 7 magical books written by CS Lewis decades ago. This group aims to provide a wealth of information to fans of these wonderful books and also to fans of the new Disney movie based on The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe, and the upcoming Prince Caspian. Please click on: www.care2.com/c2c/group/NarniaWorld to check us out!
October is my favourite month of the year. Enjoy this October sunset and have a lovely month!Love Audrey
Holly & Audrey send you love and best wishes from Ireland!!
PANDAS for LIFEhttp://www.care2.com/c2c/group/pandas
May your dreams fly high as I wish you a birthday so delightful your emotions soar into the heavens.
This candle and teddy bear is for Baby Madeleine McCann
May she return to her family safe and well.


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Mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures are at an all time high. It's shocking to review published statistics about millions of people who've fallen behind on their mortgage payments. It's alarming to read stories about people you don't know who are struggling to keep their home. It takes on an entirely different perspective when you meet face to face with real people who are on the brink of losing their home.
In the last couple of months, I've personally talked to several people who are depressed and scared out of their minds because they've fallen behind on their mortgage and they cannot catch up. These are real people whom you see and mingle with everyday.
If you don't pay your mortgage payment over a period of time, a mortgage company has the legal right to take possession of your home. A foreclosure is a major negative on your credit report. It can have an adverse effect on you when buying insurance, applying for a job, or obtaining financing in the future. With a foreclosure, there's a good chance that the lender will sell the property for less than what is owed on it. Should this happen, they'll pursue you for the deficiency balance plus various fees. There's nothing worse than paying for something you no longer own. Foreclosure is a gut-wrenching, humbling experience that you want to avoid like the plague.
Below are some tips to help you prevent and avoid foreclosure:
Get your financial house in order first and then seek homeownership. As Benjamin Franklin said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Before you move into a home, you should have your spending under control, little to no consumer debt, savings set aside for emergencies and a reasonable down payment.
Never take on a mortgage where the payment exceeds 35 percent of your take home pay. Contrary to popular belief, homeownership is not "The American Dream." It's a component of "The American Dream." You still want to eat, keep the lights on, send the kids to college, save for retirement and have a life. When you take on a mortgage payment that exceeds 35 percent of your take home pay, you hinder your ability to have a fulfilling life and you're more prone to falling behind on your mortgage payments.
Never take on an adjustable rate mortgage. Never subject the roof over your head to potential payments increases. When adjustable rate mortgages adjust, your monthly payments can soar to $200, $500, or even $700 more than what you're currently paying each month, sending you into what industry experts call "payment shock."
Be proactive. If there's a remote possibility that you're about to fall behind on your mortgage, seek help. You have a better chance of saving your home when you're one or two months behind than you do your when you're six or seven months behind. Contact the lender and explain your situation. You'll be surprised to know that many companies would rather work with you then foreclose on your property. Contact a fee only financial planner who can help you fully understand the options that are available to you.
Forbearance agreement. If you're experiencing an isolated incident that's hindering your ability to make timely payments, a lender may extend mercy to you by allowing you to temporarily make partial payments or pay nothing at all for a set period of time.
Reinstatement. If you have access to a lump sum of money such as a tax refund, savings, bonus, etc., you can pay the mortgage company the total amount you are behind. This will allow you to become current on your mortgage, giving you a clean slate.
Refinance. If you have an adjustable rate mortgage and your payments have risen higher than what you can reasonably afford, you may be able to refinance your adjustable rate mortgage into an affordable fixed rate mortgage.
Repayment plan. Perhaps you fell behind on your mortgage payments because of a temporary setback but now you're back on your feet. A lender may be willing to offer you a repayment plan. A repayment plan is when a lender allows you to make your regular mortgage payment plus an additional amount allowing you to gradually get current with your mortgage.
Loan modification. A lender may be willing to temporarily or permanently make changes to the interest rate and/or terms of your mortgage note to make the payments more affordable.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a court approved repayment plan that will stop foreclosure and allow you to gradually get current on your mortgage. The problem with Chapter 13 bankruptcies is that nearly 80 percent of them are either dismissed or converted to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy because of the debtor's inability to honor the repayment plan.
Sell. The aforementioned suggestions assumes that you can realistically afford the home. You just need a practical solution to get current on your payments. In the event you're in a house you can no longer afford, the best thing to do is sell the property and downsize into a more affordable housing situation.
Short-sale. If you're having a hard time selling the house because the offers you're receiving are lower than what you owe on the mortgage, a mortgage lender may be willing to accept a short-sale. With a short-sale, a lender will accept the offer and write off the unpaid balance.
Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. If you've done everything within your power to prevent foreclosure to no avail, the last option would be a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. This is essentially a friendly foreclosure where the lender avoids the lengthy, expensive process of foreclosure and cancels the debt you owe on the property.
(Mortgage and Money Coach Damon Carr is owner of ACE Financial. Sign up for Damon's free Online Newsletter at allcreditexperts.com. Damon can be reached at 412-856-1183.)