When four singles and their father spend the Summer in a rented country cottage, they had no idea what the Summer would entail. As the sisters live their adventures and each grow in their own way through an interaction with a bull, an exciting friendship with a mysterious boy, and an intriguing crush on an older boy, the sisters soon realize that while they may make friends and share their experiences with others their father and the four of them are what really matter most in life.
Bibliographic Citation:
Birdsall, J. (2005). The Penderwicks: a summer tale of four sisters, two rabbits, and a very interesting boy. New York, NY: Yearling.
My Impression:
The Penderwicks is an incredible story that you will find yourself laughing out loud at throughout the entire story. The true beauty of this story, however, is the way real issues are seriously dealt with in a lighthearted story. The woes of adolescent girls is a struggle, and each of the Penderwick sisters have their own personality and problems. Jeanne Birdsall does an incredible job of helping these sisters through their struggles in a realistic way and encompassing the positive joy of life that is always present despite the tears a girl may have when she gets knocked down. I don't think boys would typically enjoy this story, but girls of many ages will love it, including adults, because sometimes we need to find the girl in ourselves all over again.
Reviews:
Starred Review* The Penderwick sisters, who made a splash in their first eponymous novel (which won a 2005 National Book Award) return in another warm family story. An opening chapter, which might bring a tear to the eye, tells how the girls’ mother died right after Batty’s birth. Now, some four years later, Aunt Claire presents the girls’ father with a letter from his late wife, telling him it’s time to start dating. Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty beg to differ and come up with a harebrained scheme to thwart Mr. Penderwick. But the girls aren’t just focused on their father. Rosalind has her own romantic entanglements; and Skye and Jane write compositions for each other, which leads to myriad problems. Meanwhile, little Batty has become enamored of the widow and her baby son who live next door. There’s never much suspense about where all this is going, but things happen in such touching ways that the story is hard to resist. As in the previous book, Birdsall seems to get inspiration from books like Sydney Taylor’s All-of-a-Kind Family and the movie Meet Me in St. Louis—just the sort of cozy fare that’s missing in today’s mean-girl world. Grades 4-7
Ilene Cooper (Booklist, May 1, 2008 (Vol. 104, No. 17))
How to use this book in your library:
Because The Penderwicks is set in Summer this book could be great start for an older audiences Summer Reading program. Summer adventures can be had by all, not just those who vacation to a country cottage, encourage children in your library to create adventures like Skye, perhaps by writing a book, or by dressing up like Batty. When the sun is shining and school is out the possibilities are endless.
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