Summary
The Penderwick series contains several books that revolve around the Penderwick family. In the interest of full disclosure, I have only read the first three. The mother of the Penderwick children died from cancer (the event itself is not detailed in the book), so the 4 sisters (Rosalind, Skye, Jane and Batty) live with their loving and attentive father and beloved dog. The Penderwick books set up imaginary play during childhood, strong sibling bonds, and healthy discourse about life’s tough issues as normative and positive. These books are a nostalgic nod to an idyllic childhood that is the stuff of storybooks.
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy is the first book in the series. In this book, the reader is introduced to the family and begins to understand the unique family dynamic that they have. The Penderwicks are headed off for summer vacation at a fancy estate in the country. They have many adventures, one sister thinks she falls in love, but most importantly they meet “a very interesting boy” named Jeffery. Jeffery becomes a brother of sorts to the sisters, mostly because his childhood has been the opposite of the idyllic and fun childhoods that the Penderwick sisters have experienced. They all have many fun adventures together.
The Penderwicks at Gardam Street has a much heavier theme than the first light and fun book. This book takes place after the summer that was detailed during the first book. Their mother who died of cancer has left a letter for their father to encourage him to date again after a prolonged period of being alone. It is up to the girl’s Aunt to help their father pursue this, against his own will. The girls take it upon themselves to discourage this, and many hilarious things happen based upon this request from their dead mother. In addition to this, there are casual mentions of magic, fake gods, boyfriends, and blood sacrifices all from a childish point of view that does not understand the implications. There is also an aside of a creepy man hanging around (Batty thinks he has bug-eyes) who ends up being someone trying to steal secret (work-related) info from their neighbor. The girls struggle to reconcile with their dad moving on from loving their mother. In the end, the oldest sister ended up getting a boyfriend and the girls’ dad ended up remarrying with the girls’ blessing.
The Penderwicks at Point Mouette details the family’s summer that directly follows the second book. In this book their father heads off with his new wife, Rosalind goes to the beach with a friend and the rest of the sisters and Jeffery head to a cabin with their Aunt for a summer get-a-way. In this book, Jane (the third sister) starts to struggle with a love interest of her own, while Jeffery struggles with questions of his identity. Jeffery ultimately finds his birth-father living right next door to the cabin where they are staying in Maine, and many very weighty and difficult questions are raised (most of which remain unanswered) as a result. The sisters have many adventures, both together and apart. At the end of all of their vacations, they are reunited back to where they will begin to figure out a new family dynamic of living with a stepmother and little step-brother.
Reading Level: 8-12
Read Aloud Age: 12+
Mom Thoughts
As an adult, I found these books to be enjoyably witty and nostalgic. I myself had a mostly lovely childhood full of adventure and many bad ideas that often resulted in hilarious outcomes, which is basically the main theme that runs throughout this series. The Penderwicks are all so delightfully real, and enjoy very close and special bonds, especially between the sisters. They trust and rely on each other in a way that are commendable. However, I would not hand these books to any of my children without several caveats.
These books are thoroughly secular, and entertain many, many bad ideas about dating, prayer, fake gods, magic, etc. For example, at one point, Rosalind realizes that she can’t possibly worry about everything so she thinks that maybe she should learn to trust the “fates” a little more. I thought the first would make a fun read-aloud (even though there is a little pre-teen “love” interest going on), but I found the second book especially to be heavy thematically as well as filled with course-language and questionable behavior. The third was more a mix of the two, but also involved more boy-girl drama, and themes of brokenness as they relate to un-intact families.
Language:
It would take too many pages to list all the name-calling and coarse language in these books, though none of it is explicit. Here is a smattering:
moron, stupid, stuck-up, silly-gut, gooseberry louse, knave, churl, fish-head, jerk, idiot, double-darn, no-good creep, blood-thirsty savages, vagrant, mad-cows, gormless duffs, annoying, nincompoop, loathsome, pond-scum, pinhead, pathetic-ignoramus, etc. Let the reader understand.
Murder and killing are discussed, albeit at a very high level.
Questionable Behaviors:
This series is basically about kids being *mostly* left to their own devices and therefore questionable behaviors abound. The first book has mostly just childish, bad-idea, “innocent” type troubles. The girls and Jeffery conspire to “hide the truth” and then lie to another adult. There is some sibling fighting (though not much on the whole).
The second book is full of questionable behavior. Most notably, the girls are trying to plot about keeping their father from dating again with all sorts of silly, yet disrespectful methods instead of telling him how they feel and what they think about this possibility. Skye loses her temper on several occasions and ends up causing a big fight at a soccer game. Jane goes out into the forest and sits on a rock and basically dreams up her own religion. She prays to the rock and performs “ceremonies” of her own making to get the rock to do things for her. Later, she calls upon the Aztec gods to help her during her soccer game. Reincarnation and a woman whose house is full of crystals and who talks about who people were in their former lives are mentioned. Magic adventures and the existence of magic are discussed in this book as well (though this also stays at a relatively high level). Jane even writes a play about one sister who submits to being a blood sacrifice in the place of her other sister and cutting her heart out is discussed. This play that she writes is a major part of the plot-line in this book. Skye punches a boy because she wants to be left alone, and even has an existential conversation with the neighbor about how the universe began, is expanding, and how it will end (which was basically a nod to evolution). Even the dad has some questionable behavior. He confesses to having made up a fake girlfriend and having gone on several “fake” dates with her so that he wouldn’t have to go on anymore blind dates.
In the third book, the girls take a blood oath. Jane is in the ocean and prays to Neptune to make her into a mermaid. Divorce and abandonment are discussed. The kids make a fire on the beach and discuss making “wishes to the fire god”. Jane even goes so far as to make up an “ancient spell” and cuts one of Batty’s curls and throws it into the fire and then Batty wishes for a piano. The girls watch a movie that has sheep in it that have evil spirits. Revenge and voodoo dolls are discussed.
Sexual Content:
In the first book, Rosalind has a crush on a much older boy named Cagney. She also wonders about being in love, talks about kissing boys, and daydreams about kissing Cagney and holding his hand. Later she sees Cagney kissing a different girl (his girlfriend). Jeffrey’s mom is “making kissing noises” with her boyfriend.
In the second book, dating after the death of a spouse is a major part of the plot. Blind dates, stepmothers, divorce, etc are all discussed. At one point, Jane says that she read in a magazine “that men have needs”. Younger readers might gloss over this innuendo; it is quickly ignored by her sisters and not discussed anymore. The neighbor Tommy gets invited to the dance by a girl and there are some complications from crush drama between him and Rosalind. Later, Tommy is “whacked out” over a girl and is dancing with her at the dance, even though he truly likes Rosalind and is basically trying to make her jealous. Tommy is seen holding a girl’s hand. In the end, Tommy breaks up with this other girl, tells Rosalind that she’s pretty, and suggests that they date when they get older. Then he kisses her and she kisses him back and then she later hangs on his arm. The dad also remarries at the end of the book.
In the third book, Jane discusses her literary crushes and decides to write a book in which her character falls in love. She decides to do research for her book and asks Rosalind what it’s like to kiss Tommy. She talks about love at first sight with her Aunt. A boy named Dominic invites Jane to meet him at a park. She wants to ask Dominic several questions from her love survey and admires several things about him. Later, Dominic asks to kiss Jane and she lets him. It is a small kiss. After a while of not seeing Dominic, Jane tells her younger sister Batty that she’ll die of grief if he doesn’t come and see her soon. When Dominic then writes her a note, Jane cuts off a piece of her hair to make wishes to the “fire-god” that pertains to her love interest.
Jane’s other first kisses are discussed and a girl is also mentioned very briefly with no other explanation. Skye recalls kissing Pearson last year and then punching him. Marrying Jeffrey is discussed. Batty asks her Aunt why Alec didn’t know that daddies are part of “making babies”, but it is not discussed any further. In the end, it is discovered that Dominic only kissed Jane because of a dare, and Jane and Skye are furious with him for “tricking” Jane into falling in love with him.
This review is written by contributor, Brittany. To learn more about Brittany, click HERE.
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