Jack the Reader

The Penderwicks have returned in the fifth, and sadly, the last book in the Penderwick series by Jeanne Birdsall, The Penderwicks at Last. Lydia, once the princess-obsessed two-year-old who spoke only in third person, will soon enter middle school, nine years having passed since The Penderwicks in Spring. Lydia’s older sisters, Rosalind, Skye, Jane and Batty, have all gone to college now, leaving only Lydia and her older brother Ben at home. The family also has two dogs named Feldspar and Sonata. Then Rosalind announces that she will change her wedding location— to Arundel, Mrs. Tifton’s estate in the Berkshire Mountains, where the Penderwicks vacationed fifteen years ago. Everyone worries that Mrs. Tifton will still be around; she disliked the Penderwicks from the first moment she saw them. Cagney, the young gardener who worked for Mrs. Tifton, still lives at Arundel, however, though he now has a wife and two children. One of them, Alice, almost instantly befriends Lydia. The two of them have many amazing adventures over the next week, but Mrs. Tifton’s sudden reappearance shocks everyone. Even so, the second Arundel summer turns out just as wonderful as any. It’s another delightful Penderwick adventure!

The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall has a slightly sadder tone than the other four books in the Penderwicks series. Six years have passed since The Penderwicks at Point Mouette. Hound, the Penderwicks’ beloved dog, has died of old age and heart disease, leaving a ten-year-old Batty stricken with grief.

She also misses Rosalind. Rosalind, her favorite sister, off in college in Rhode Island. Rosalind, who used to care for Batty, many years ago. Rosalind, who then comes home two weeks early, but with her obnoxious boyfriend Oliver.  

Batty also finds that Mrs. Grunfeld, her school’s substitute music teacher, considers Batty’s marvelous voice “like an orchid in a daisy field.” Sadly, all that crumbles away when Batty overhears seventeen-year-old Skye lose her temper to honorary Penderwick Jeffrey Tifton, Batty’s musical mentore (Italian for “mentor”). Skye exposes her misinformed resentment toward Batty.  Somehow Batty thinks that her whole family feels the same way as Skye, which is almost too much for her to handle. Seven-year-old Ben has his own worries, too. Most of it has to do with the secrets Batty continues to make him keep. Can the Penderwicks not only shake off Oliver but comfort Batty, too?

My mom finds The Penderwicks in Spring “a little depressing.” I also think chapters 14 and 20 through 23 seem hilarious. Recommended for ages 7 through 15.

Jeanne Birdsall’s The Penderwicks at Point Mouette excels as a children’s book. It tells the story of twelve-year-old Skye, eleven-year-old Jane, five-year-old Batty and their Aunt Claire’s vacation in Maine, the vacation that nobody (except Aunt Claire) thinks will succeed. Skye convinces herself that something terrible will happen to Batty, despite Skye’s best efforts, while Jane struggles through her first experience of writer’s block. Unfortunately, awful Mrs. Tifton refuses to let her son Jeffrey, voted an honorary Penderwick the year before, join them at Point Mouette. The Penderwicks have a nice neighbor, Alec, though, so hope exists for a good trip. People start getting hurt, though, and Skye almost goes crazy with worry. Thankfully, Batty isn’t hurt… yet. Also, Batty begins to learn the piano and the harmonica, which does nothing to help Skye’s state of mind. Skye, however, finds herself able to hold the team together, resulting in another delightful, adventure-filled Penderwick summer.

When my family listened to the third Penderwick book on audio this summer, I and my whole family enjoyed it very much.

 

Though they're all great, of all the Penderwick books by Jeanne Birdsall, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street is my favorite.

The action in this book takes places shortly after the Penderwicks return home from Arundel.  This time, Mr. Penderwick has to start dating, and the four children (Rosalind, 12; Skye, 11; Jane, 10, and Batty, 4) are aghast. Enter Iantha, the widowed next-door astrophysicist neighbor and her baby Ben. Batty immediately falls in love with Ben and begins to train him to spy on “Bug Man” in whom nobody else believes. Rosalind has to figure out how to protect the family from a stepmother; Skye and Jane swap homework with disastrous results; and Skye and Iantha discover that they share their love of the stars. I especially enjoy the build-up to the climax in chapters 17 to 21.

The recommended age range is the same as for the original, but remember, this one is my favorite. Even my dad enjoyed it when we listened to it on audiobook this summer's epic road trip. 

The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall is a heartwarming tale of four sisters and their botanist, Latin-speaking father vacationing at Arundel, an estate in the Berkshire Mountains owned by “snooty Mrs. Tifton”, who doesn’t appreciate 11-year-old Skye and her sisters (Rosalind, 12; Jane, 10; and Batty, 4), not to mention the family dog, Hound, messing up her beautiful gardens and getting in trouble, especially if her son Jeffrey is involved. The summer turns out nearly perfect, despite Mrs. Tifton and her “despicable Dexter”, and when I heard there was a sequel or three, it was off to the library for Jack the Reader.

I think this book is best for kids aged 7-14, but younger kids will enjoy it read out loud or on audiobook. I know that I enjoyed it very much. The sequels are called:

• The Penderwicks on Gardam Street
• The Penderwicks at Point Mouette
• The Penderwicks in Spring
• The Penderwicks at Last

in that order.