Richard Peck's a Year Down Yonder: Novel Study Review

I was a big fan of Richard Peck's writing as a teenager, and when I was looking for youth fiction for my almost twelve year old daughter, I came upon the book A Year Down Yonder. Of course I had to read it, just for my own personal pleasure! I also decided it would be a good literature selection for the new homeschooling year, so I was very pleased when I saw that New Learning Publishing had created a novel study to go along with the book!

This is a thorough study that allows the student to read the novel at her own pace, and then check both basic comprehension and deeper understanding with some short answer questions. Vocabulary is also checked, either by the student providing his own definition or by looking the word up in the dictionary and selecting the correct definition to match the context in which the word appears. Assignments are a series of questions - a page to two pages long per chapter - and space is provided for answers to be written straight onto the worksheets.

Other activities include exploration of idioms, creating illustrations, and character trait analysis. There is no additional preparation work for the educator, and the novel study can be used in a number of settings from individual to whole class - with or without teacher involvement. At the end of the study there is an exercise that takes the student very gently through the process of writing a summary of the book.

I like that this novel study asks the student to do a number of things that might be asked for on a school exam, or that might be used as assessment criteria for homeschoolers who are required to provide a portfolio as proof of adequate education. It is aimed at students aged 8-10, but would also be helpful to slightly older students who need to be able to move from the realm of, "This was a good book. I liked it because Grandma stood up to the bullies," to more serious reflection on a novel. Even if you are not homeschooling, you may want to think of introducing a study such as this one at home, to help your child prepare for high school or college literature assignments.

Even if your child is used to summarizing literature because he has been doing Charlotte Mason style narrations for a few years, you may find this type of assignment helps him to pick up good habits like checking new vocabulary with a dictionary. It offers enough prompting for the student to consider important points, but allows her independence from Mom & Dad so she can read the book at her own pace. I recommend printing all the student pages up at once, and putting them in a folder so each chapter's work can be done when the content is still fresh in the student's mind.

The study includes a cover sheet and answers - which you may opt to print and give to the student for self-correction, or to withhold so you can do the correction yourself. It is possible to correct the work without having read the book, which can be handy if you have several students reading different books and are having trouble keeping up with the pace. Still, I recommend reading the novel so you can discuss it with your child when he is reading it. A grading rubric is also included, for the written summary of the book.

If you liked stories like Little House on the Prairie or Understood Betsy for your younger children, this novel study is for you! A Year Down Yonder can be read as a standalone book, but actually continues the story told in Richard Peck's A Long Way from Chicago. New Learning Publishing offers novel studies for both, and if you plan to read the two books you can take advantage of the novel study bundle in order to get a discounted price.

Novel Ideas - Richard Peck's A Year Down Yonder is available from CurrClick, who arranged the review copy of the e-book upon which this review is based. Peck's Newbery Medal novel is not included in the novel study. It is, however, readily available at your local bookstore or library.

New Learning Publishing offers a number of educational resources for classroom or home use, including a Vancouver 2010 Olympics unit study, a series of early learning resources for the youngest scholars, and even live online classes!