Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Turns out that Richard Peck knows a thing or two about living in Illinois but still being a "long way from Chicago." He grew up in the little town of Decatur, about three hours from Chicago. (Source)
Like Joey, Richard Peck ended up serving in World War II, but he didn't become a pilot. Instead, he was a ghostwriter for chaplains. (Source)
The setting for A Long Way from Chicago isn't some made-up place; Richard Peck modeled it after the farm town where his father grew up. (Source)
Peck reveals that although Grandma Dowdel isn't modeled off of his own grandmother, she is a pastiche of all his great-aunts, who were powerful, larger-than-life women. (Source)