Yearling The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy

The Penderwick family comprises of widower Mr Penderwick and his four daughters: Rosalind (12); Skye (11); Jane (10) and Batty, the baby of the family at four years old. Whilst staying for the summer holidays in a cottage in the grounds of a large estate called Arundel, which is owned by the snooty Mrs Tifton, the children meet her good-looking teenage gardener, Cagney, who tends Mrs Tifton's manicured garden - a garden which, next to her son, Jeffrey, is her pride and joy. In addition to Cagney, who Rosalind finds very attractive, there is of course the aforementioned Jeffrey, who thankfully is nothing like is domineering mother and is a sensitive, musical boy - who, despite a difficult start with the tomboyish Skye, soon makes friends with the whole Penderwick family. And so they all, Rosalind, Skye, Jane, Batty, Jeffrey and Cagney, look set to have a good time over the holidays and, possibly, some exciting adventures - but, naturally, as in all good children's stories, things don't go quite the way they planned. Firstly Batty almost gets trampled by an angry bull and then they almost set fire to the cottage kitchen whilst baking brownies; this is later followed by the the children running amok during the judging of Mrs Tipton's garden for the Garden Club Competition (a competition in which she had been dreaming of winning the first prize) and then Jeffrey discovers his mother is considering marrying the smarmy Dexter and, even worse, sending Jeffrey to Pencey Military Academy so that he can fulfil her dreams of him becoming a general like her dear, departed father. Can the girls help Jeffrey escape his fate? And if so, can they do it without causing even more mayhem?A warm and old-fashioned (in the best sense of the word) story filled with a cast of endearing characters (apart from Mrs Tipton [who does eventually reveal a better side] and Dexter [whose better side, if he has one, he keeps well-hidden]) and one which reminded me of the marvellous Melendy Family books by Elizabeth Enright (which were first published during the 1940s and are still popular today). This book was the winner of America's 'National Book Award for Young People's Literature' and is the first of five stories featuring the Penderwicks and the young person I bought this book for enjoyed it very much and has asked for more - so that's four further titles for me to buy (and read ;-)) and I'm rather looking forward to it.4 Stars.

Exactly as described and was even better than I could have hoped for. This is a very lovely book which is a well written story, both for children and adults will enjoy this author. The seller was amazing with the delivery and the book was in excellent condition. I stumbled across this author and read an excerpt from this book, I chose to see if this book would meet my expectations before purchasing a new hardback one, which it did and as result I have purchased all her other books! 7* Item, seller and delivery. I would not hesitate to return to this store.Mr M.

This is a cracking book. I read it to my 8-year-old daughter and we both loved it. She was so motivated by it, she asked to read the other two in the series herself - a defining moment, since the next one (The Penderwicks on Gardam Street) has been the first long book without illustrations that she has read. She's really chuffed with herself. The characters are well-rounded and charming and as my daughter says 'I just want to spend more time with them'. You can read the plot line elsewhere on this site, but if you want to read more reviews, go to Amazon.com, the American site, where there are over 150 reviews. It deserves to be as popular in the UK as it clearly is in the States. The English in it is not culture-bound to the US and there are few Americanisms - it's almost as if Jeanne Birdsall wrote it to appeal to a universal global-English market. My 11-year-old daughter has also read the series herself and liked the books very much. Let's hope there are more on the way.

Written by an American, set in New England somewhere, this first book in a series has universal appeal. In any language in the Western world, the adventures of three sisters, their dog and a new friend would charm anyone from about 8/9 onwards. I know of two adults and myself who loved it too. The girls, with their widowed father, set off for their holiday/vacation at a holiday cottage on a large estate. Lots of grounds to wander, lots of mysteries to solve, and a boy who lives in the big house and is lonely becomes complicit in their adventures. Great fun!

Thoroughly entertaining Audio CD for the whole family. Full of fun, laughter, surprises and adventure, it kept everyone in our car enthralled (aged 4 to 64!), there are four sisters, age ranges varying from pre-school to teenager, so there is a story strand that will speak to all ages of listener. Utterly perfect, please write more!!