Skip to main content

The Penderwicks at Last

Image
By


The Penderwicks at Last
By Jeanne Birdsall
Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, 2018. Realistic Fiction, 294 p.

I love the Penderwick family! This is the last book in the series—so if you haven’t read the others make sure you start with The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy (which is amazing as well).

Basically the whole series talks about how the various Penderwick sisters interact with each other (the good, the bad, and the loveable). In this installment the very youngest Penderwick sister is the focus of the book. The two oldest Penderwick sisters are getting married—and Lydia is trying to explore the wonderful site for the wedding (which is the setting for the first Penderwick book) all while helping to get other wedding things done and avoid Jeffrey’s mother.

There isn’t a large list of adventurous drama or strong “I hate this” emotions. Instead it is a calm, stead look at what it is like to be the youngest sister of a family who dearly loves each other—and would do anything for each other. Lydia longs to make friends and have adventures but she is also a little frightened of the idea of ghosts or insistent grownups. In fact, the love and adoration that this family has for each other often reminds me of the feeling I get when I read Little Women. Sweet vignettes that show just how much the sisters love each other—with Lydia trying to figure out her place in the wedding and vacation mayhem.

If you are looking for a good audio series for family to listen to, this series is a good choice—the narrator is great at capturing the Penderwick’s story.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

By
KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Memory Spinner

By
The Memory Spinner Written by C.M. Cornwell New York : Delacorte Press, 2025. Fiction. 281 pages. Fantasy is a genre that I don't often read. When I finish a good fantasy book, I always ask myself why I don't read more of them! This book made me ask myself that exact question. Lavender is a young girl who is struggling after the death of her mother. Her father doesn't like talking about the family's loss, and Lavender feels very alone in knowing how to grieve and cope with her feelings. Making the grieving process even harder for Lavender is the fact that she is struggling to hold on to memories of her mother.  The family runs an apothecary shop where Lavender is an apprentice. She has dreamed of her apprenticeship for a long time, putting in a lot of work to show her father she is a valuable asset. Unfortunately, while working side by side with her father, Lavender starts to notice that memories of her mother aren't the only thing she is having a hard time recallin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Kareem Between

By
  Kareem Between By Shifa Saltagi Safadi New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2024. Fiction. 324 pages.  Kareem loves football and as he gets ready to start seventh grade he dreams of someday becoming the first Syrian American NFL player. Seventh grade is not off to a great start for Kareem, after football tryouts don't go as he had planned, his best friend moves away, and his mom returns to Syria to help bring his sick grandfather to the US for treatment. So when Austin, the quarterback and coach's son, offers to talk to his dad and get Kareem on the football team in the spring, if he will cheat and do his homework for him, Kareem agrees. Kareem really wants to fit in at school and he is desperate to find a friend, but deep down he knows that doing Austin's homework isn't the right thing to do. And to make things harder, Kareem's mom asks him to be a friend to Fadi, a Syrian Christian refugee. He knows he should stand up for Fadi and help him adjust to the new school,...
Post a Comment
Read more