The Penderwicks

by Jeanne Birdsall

First published 2014

Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty Penderwick face the joys and complications of growing up across three connected adventures. In the first story, the sisters spend a magical summer at a rented cottage where they befriend a lonely boy and clash with his stern mother. The second finds them back home on Gardam Street, where their widowed father's new romance threatens to upend their comfortable world. The third takes the older girls to Point Mouette for a summer vacation that tests their bonds as sisters when romance and responsibility pull them in different directions. Each sister must learn to balance her own dreams with loyalty to family. These tales capture the bittersweet reality of childhood summers where everything feels possible yet nothing stays the same. The Penderwick girls discover that growing up means holding onto what matters most while learning to let go of what must change.

Genres: fiction, family-life, contemporary

Vibes: emotional, intimate, whimsical

Tropes: found-family, sibling-relationships

Setting: Gardam Street, Point Mouette

Period: 20th-century, 21st-century

320 pages · Paperback · Yearling

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