"The Penderwicks" Review by Ansh Singh

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

Review by Ansh Singh

Characters:

        The first book in The Penderwicks series revolves around a father and his four daughters on summer vacation. The father, Mr. Penderwick, is a kind-hearted individual that is very tolerant with his children. You can an instance of this where Mr. Penderwick seems completely fine with his house almost burning down... "What was that smell? She ran down the steps into the kitchen. Skye was amazed at what she saw. Rosalind was pulling two smoldering black cookie sheets out of the oven, Cagney was dragging a hose into the kitchen from outside," (Birdsall 49). Once Mr. Penderwick became aware of the situation, he sent the kids on a walk? I found that quite interesting actually. Anyways, the oldest daughter is Rosalind. Rosalind is a sweet, caring daughter who fills in the mother role that the family is missing. She does most of the work around the house while dealing with the mischievous Skye and the rest of the troubling daughters. Next is Skye. Skye is a feisty, but intelligent mathematician that is quick to lose her temper. Jane is an interesting character, commonly found talking about her books and day dreaming. The youngest, and most troublesome, is Batty. Batty is only 4 years old while Rosaline is 12, Skye 11, and Jane 10. At Arundel Hall, there is Mrs. Tifton who is the divorced mother of Jeffrey. Mrs. Tifton is described by the kids as a wealthy, arrogant, stuck-up owner of the Arundel estate. She and her boyfriend, Dexter, are very controlling.

Summary: 

        In a last minute decision, Mr. Penderwick decides to rent a cottage at a place called "Arundel Hall" for the remainder of summer. Once they arrive at Ardunel they are surprised to see a huge mansion complimented with "beautifully tended lawns" and "enormous formal gardens" (Birdsall 8). The first week of vacation goes great. The family goes through some minor inconveniences due to some troublesome children. Skye sneaking into Mrs. Tifton's gardens and facing Jeffrey is a good example of this (Birdsall 22-28). Aside from that, they make some new friends like Cagney, who is Mrs. Tifton's gardener, and Jeffrey who they eventually make up with. The first week goes quite smoothly, but it begins to go downhill once they confront Mrs. Tifton for the first time.

Opinions:

        I enjoyed reading this book; it was easy to read and also very interesting. This novel felt like multiple stories in one. Every time the sisters resolved a problem, they would find another thing to deal with. Which brings me to the issues I found throughout the book. I feel as though I shouldn't be making any complaints as I have only read the first book of the series. Either way, I notice that each time the four sisters have to resolve a problem, it ends up in a wasted effort. Whenever they're just about fix an issue they find themselves getting caught by Mrs. Tifton and this really hurts their relationship with her. She begins to believe that Mr. Penderwick's daughters are a bad influence and she forbids Jeffrey from speaking with them at one point. It is just unsatisfying to see a plan unfold and not work out. The next problem isn't something I would consider an "issue" of the book it is more of an opinion, but some of the characters just lack common sense during some scenes. A good example of this is when Skye almost burns down the entire cottage their renting (Birdsall 49). Nevertheless, The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall is quite an interesting novel. I can see that there is a deeper plot happening in the background midst the foolishness of Batty and Skye finding themselves in more trouble. If I had to rate this novel, I would say that this book is a solid 8/10.