A Year Down Yonder Tough-o-Meter

(3) Base Camp

The language in A Year Down Yonder is charmingly simple, which makes it easy to get lost in the story since you don't have to strain over big words or flowery poetics. At the same time, there is some small town, old time slang you may have to decode—like, what's a cobhouse?—but for the most part the context will answer any questions you may have.

And when you're done reading, you can impress your friends with your endearing use of words like "dither," "privy," and "punkins." And of course "blunderbuss." It wouldn't be a Grandma Dowdel book without at least one of those.