A Season of Gifts

A Season of Gifts is a novel by Richard Peck. It was published on September 17, 2009. The story is broken up into three parts: The Last House in Town, The Fall of the Year, and E'er the Winter Storms begin. It is the sequel to A Long Way from Chicago (1999) and A Year Down Yonder (2000).

Summary

Part I: The Last House in Town

When Bob first arrives in Terre Haute, he immediately takes notice of Grandma Dowdel's house, his little sister thinks its haunted. He is greeted by the local bully, who makes him strip down and takes him to the crick, in the woods outside of the town.

Part II: The Fall of the Year

This part of the book is started with a long narrative, in which he talks about a haunted melon patch in Grandma Dowdel's backyard. He goes on to explain that she claimed that an ancient Kickapoo Indian Princess is buried in her backyard. This makes Bob's sister very jealous. Later, Grandma Dowdel knocks on the Barnhart house and tells Bob's family that his sister has fallen in love with one of the boys and has gotten drunk.

Part III: E'er the Winter Storms Begin

The third part of the book starts off talking about the local convenience store and how the veterans of foreign war sell Christmas trees there. But before they left, Grandma Dowdel also had him chop down a second one, so his family could decorate a tree. Then they drove back into town.

Sources: the book from Jones Library Amherst MA