Summary and Review of: "The Penderwicks on Gardam Street" by Jeanne Birdsall

 Summary and Review of:

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall

Written by: Ansh Singh

Summary:

The Penderwicks are finally home on Gardam Street after a very long vacation at Arundel Hall, but the Penderwicks sisters have more problems awaiting them. If we take a trip back all the way to the beginning of the book, we see a troublesome group of children eavesdropping on their mother in the hospital. Here we meet a new character to this series. Claire, Mr. Penderwick's Sister, is given a blue note by the Penderwick's mother on her deathbed. This note contains her seemingly dying wish: It is to make sure that Mr. Penderwick can find love once again after 4 years. This job is bestowed onto his sister. And after 4 years, Claire offers the idea to Mr. Penderwick... "Aunt Claire was talking quickly, and their father said "NO" once loudly, and then they went back and forth, and the girls heard their mother's name--Elizabeth--several times" (Birdsall 23). The children hated the idea... a lot. The girls arranged a plan, the "Save Daddy" plan. This plan was to show their father how dreadful dating truly was by orchestrating horrible dates to keep him from seeing other women.

Review:

The Penderwick sisters try to make their father rethink dating while also getting to know their lovely neighbors Iantha and her son Ben. The sisters finally become accepting of their dad's plans for finding love again and everyone meets at an agreement in the end. The book finishes off with a super happy ending that comes with a big plot twist that I didn't see coming. It is bizarre knowing that this simple and obvious idea was right in front of me throughout the entire book, yet I wasn't even able to detect it myself. I wouldn't want to spoil anything, so I highly recommend reading both this book and the first one of the series as they are very wholesome and enjoyable to read.