When someone shares a wonderful end of summer read with you… a wonderful fictional tale that takes you to places you would love to be, and you actually feel you are there… you know that someone loves you very much! Thanks, Lydia (My ten year old granddaughter with a kindred spirit and exceptional style. 🤗)

The Penderwicks book, written by Jeanne Birdsall, is A Yearling Book and winner of a National Book Award. It was copyrighted in 2005 and although it has a modern flare, it reminds me of books I read as a kid such as The Boxcar Children, and the Trixie Belden series. This book is one in a series of five total books about the Penderwicks, so if you fall in love with this one as I have, you have more adventures waiting to be read about this family.

Meet the characters:

• Mr. Penderwick – widowed dad raising four daughters, a professor of botany at Cameron University, somewhat scattered, and slips into using Latin when giving instructions to his girls
• Rosalind – oldest daughter (age twelve) who has taken on the roll of a mother to her sisters, seems wise beyond her years, and has great discernment on the character of others
• Skye – the only blue-eyed, blonde hair of the family, who took after her mother. Age eleven and a math whiz who loves soccer. Speaks her mind way to frequently and has to be bailed out for saying the wrong things
• Jane – ten year old writer of the family who also loves soccer and has a way with words
• Batty (Elizabeth) – age four, very shy, loves animals and wants to be a veterinarian. Wears fake butterfly wings at all times
• Hound – their dog who causes trouble by trying to escape his pen, eating strange things like maps, papers, and lemon pie — which causes him to throw up at the worst times, and usually in one of the girls shoes
• Cagney – 18 or 19 year old grounds keeper for the Arundel Estate who owns two rabbits, loves baseball and Civil War History, and frequently saves the girls when they get themselves in the wrong places at the wrong times
• Mrs. Tifton – Snooty owner of the Arundel Estate who the girls try to avoid as much as possible
• Jeffery Tifton – only son of Mrs. Tifton who has a birthday in the story when he turns eleven and is given a set of golf clubs. He is also on track to go to Pencey Military Academy, West Point, then become a general as his grandfather was. He hates golf. He enjoys soccer, but his main love is music and his dream is to go to Juilliard. He is very sweet, the opposite of his mother.

The story begins with The Penderwicks having to find another place to vacation for three weeks in August. The place they usually vacation at has been sold. At the last minute a friend lets Mr. Penderwick know about a cottage in the Berkshire Mountains that is available for rent on the grounds of the ornate Arundel Estate owned by Mrs. Tifton.

Outspoken Skye meets Jeffery and says rude things about his mother before she knows who he is. Jane is elected to make an apology for Skye and the family as Rosalind tries to teach them manners, and explain that they must uphold the family’s honor.

Jeffery soon becomes a great friend to the girls and an interesting and exciting summer vacation begins. Cagney, the young groundskeeper, frequently looks out for the girls and has Rosalind in a twitter whenever she has to interact with him.

The adventures the girls find themselves in are very entertaining, and I found myself laughing out loud every few pages because of something Skye said, or the plot of Jane’s book being spoken aloud as a continued story. (Her main character—Sabrina Starr sounds like the wonderful imagination of a ten year old.)

A run in with Batty and a very mean bull had me holding my breath until, Jane, Skye, and Jeffery rescued her out of the pasture at the very last minute. Then they agree to never tell anyone what happened.

When the children eavesdrop on Mrs. Tipton and her boyfriend Dexter after Jeffery’s birthday party, they are stuck listening to things they would rather not hear. Mrs. Tipton shares with her boyfriend what low class she thinks the Penderwicks are. Rosalind is “furiously scolding herself. She knew that hearing bad things about yourself is one of the punishments for eavesdropping. Her father had taught her that a long time ago. Her wonderful father. How he would despise what the woman had just said. Class is as class does, he would say, but probably in Latin.” (p. 118)

Jeffery had thought that he had one more year before being sent to the military academy. Then they hear that Dexter wants to marry Jeffery’s mother and put Jeffery in the military academy the very next month… September. Jeffery quickly got away from the girls so they would not see his misery. Saddened by what they had heard, the girls quietly cleaned up the birthday wrapping paper from their gifts for Jeffery, and went home.

Jane writes in her book that night…her continued story, somewhat based on a true story. This is what she wrote:

“… Ms. Horriferous told Arthur that she meant to keep him locked up forever. “Why? Why?” he cried. “I like to torment you,” she cackled. “Please, Please, let me go,” begged Arthur. “Never!” she cried, and swept out of the room. Arthur furiously beat his fists against the walls of his prison. He would do anything to get away. Where was Sabrina Starr? When would she return for him? And would she have figured out how to get him out the window and into her hot-air balloon?” (p. 120-121)

Jane thought… “What a horrible way to find out that your mother was getting married. And that the man she was marrying wanted to ship you off to military school a whole year early!” (p. 121)

The Penderwicks book shares many insights into the family’s compassion for others, loyalty to each other and friends, what class really looks like, manners, and growing up with integrity.

It is a wonderful read for entertainment, laughter, seeing how others handle the problems we all face in life, and made me want to read the rest of the series to find out what happens as the girls grow up.

You can find the entire boxed set on Amazon in paperback for $24.20 with a review rating of 4.8 by 429 people. That rating shows a total love for the series. It is listed for ages 9-11 on Amazon, but I found other places that said it was a great read aloud book for ages 7-12.

I think it is a great investment for your library, no matter your age.

Happy reading!

Have a great week!