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The Penderwicks on Gardam Street
by: Jeanne Birdsall
Birdsall, J. (2008). The Penderwicks on Gardam Street. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Summary:
This is a story about a family that really loves one another. Their mother has died and the father’s sister feels it is time for him to start dating again. The only problem is his daughters. They have another plan; for him not to get married. They try everything to keep him from dating and getting along with any other woman. They want to “Save-Daddy” and that is the plan. Even through all their issues, they work together and realize that love and family are very important.
Impressions:
I had a hard time getting into this book. But once I got past the beginning, it was a great book. I love how at the ending they realize they had what they needed so very close to them. That just made me cry! I feel if I would have read The Penderwicks before I would have understood the storyline better. I hope when I have more daughters/sons, they care about my husband and I as much as these Penderwick girls do!
Ways to use in the Library:
This is a great book to use to show family unity and love as a theme. I also had the children read it as a Bluebonnet nominee and they loved it!
Reviews:
-from: http://www.amazon.com
From Publishers Weekly
This sequel to Birdsall's National Book Award winner, The Penderwicks, has even more charm than the original. The prologue hits the only maudlin note, flashing back to Mrs. Penderwick on her deathbed as she instructs her husband's sister, Claire, to make sure he finds love again after sufficient mourning. The Penderwick sisters--Rosalind, Jane, Skye and Batty--learn of this valediction four years later when Aunt Claire begins arranging blind dates. An emergency MOPS (Meeting of Penderwick Sisters) hatches the Save Daddy plan, in which the girls orchestrate dates so dreadful their father will see widowed life is best. Neighbors on Gardam Street include football-playing brothers Nick and Tommy (the latter plays Tracy to Rosalind's Hepburn), and two newcomers: a widowed professor and her toddler baby. Middle sisters Jane and Skye, who share a room but nothing else, steal the show by swapping homework assignments with hilariously catastrophic results. It's sheer pleasure to spend time with these exquisitely drawn characters, girls so real that readers will feel the wind through their hair as they power down the soccer field. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From School Library Journal
Gr 4-8-The Penderwick sisters are back. Their Aunt Claire has come for a visit, bringing with her a letter from their late mother that encourages their father to date, and an immediate crisis ensues, as the girls assume that this is the first step on the treacherous road to having a stepmother. After frantic consultation, they implement the "Save Daddy" plan, designed to set him up with perfectly dreadful women so that he will not want to date again. Numerous subplots add to the domestic drama. Skye struggles with her temper on the soccer field. Rosalind and neighbor Tommy experience a frustrated romance. Skye and Jane switch homework assignments, leading to a school performance of Jane's Aztec drama, with everyone thinking that it was penned by Skye. While the solution to the dating dilemma can be seen from the beginning, the sisters are so caught up in their drama that they can't see who's right next door. Laugh-out-loud moments abound and the humor comes naturally from the characters and situations. Especially funny is the scene in which the youngest Penderwick hides in the car hoping to spy on one of her father's dates. Like much of the book itself, this scene resolves itself in a tender moment between father and daughter. This is a book to cherish and to hold close like a warm, cuddly blanket that you draw around yourself to keep out the cold.-Tim Wadham, Maricopa County Library District, Phoenix, AZ
Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
*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 entangelments; 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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review -
Starred Review, School Library Journal, March 2008:
"This is a book to cherish and to hold close like a warm, cuddly blanket that you draw around yourself to keep out the cold."
Starred Review, Booklist, May 1, 2008:
"Just the sort of cozy fare that's missing in today's mean-girl world."
Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, April 28, 2008:
“It's sheer pleasure to spend time with these exquisitely drawn characters, girls so real that readers will feel the wind through their hair as they power down the soccer field.”
Review, San Francisco Chronicle, April 27, 2008:
"Birdsall writes with amazing grace."
Review, Parade, June 22, 2008:
"[A]n old-fashioned (in a good way) read with well-drawn characters, warmth, and humor."
Review, The New York Times Book Review, July 13, 2008:
"Birdsall's second novel . . . offers comforting comedy."
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