The Penderwicks - Jeanne Birdsall
by Zia ~ March 25th, 2006. Filed under: Books.
I can’t remember where I read a recommendation of this kiddie lit, but got it from the library and read it in a couple of hours. The Penderwicks — a family of four sisters, their father, and faithful dog — rent a summer cottage in the Berkshires. The owner of the property is a dragon, but her son and gardener are a delight. I was rather expecting this to be a magical novel a la Harry Potter for some reason (the description on the front says it’s “A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting boy”). It’s not. But then again, it doesn’t need to be. This was one of those old-fashioned kids books in which the ordinary seems magical. Birdsall remembers what it was like to be a child — and she knows how to write about it.