THE PENDERWICKS
By Jeanne Birdsall
Can Mrs. Tifton get the Penderwick family out of Arundel before their vacation is up? Jeez, I honestly don’t know. The Penderwicks can honestly be a pretty big handful that will not fit in your hand. If you keep reading, you may or may not find out whether she kicks them out. This book is the third in the series called The Penderwicks. It shares the same title as the first book does, which can be a little confusing if you’re writing it down on paper (which, in this case, I am).
In this story, the important main characters are Rosalind (she’s the oldest Penderwick sister), Skye (second oldest), Jane (the middle one), and Batty (the youngest). Mrs. Penderwick died of cancer when Batty was two weeks old.
When they start out, Hound (the family dog) had eaten the map to Arundel. It turns into a major problemo. They finally find their way to Arundel cottage, and then they see that it is next to a mansion. Kind of a bad place to put a cottage, don’t ya think?
Anyways, Skye goes exploring and bumps into a kid who lives at Arundel Mansion. She calls Mrs. Tifton snooty and stuck-up. The boy’s eyes widen and Mrs. Tifton calls his name. “Excuse me,” the boy says. “My mother is calling me and you’re in my way.”
Skye is ina heck of a lot of trouble, or so she thinks..
As soon as Skye gets back to the cottage, she calls an emergency MOOPS (Meeting Of Older Penderwick Sisters). She explains what the problem is, and they decide to send Jane to Arundel Mansion to make up with Jeffrey.
Jane and Jeffrey come back only to discover that Skye had burned the cookies. Skye goes on rampage as Jane and Jeffrey enter. She calls Jeffrey a stuck-up boy with a rich, snooty, mother.
Finally, they get on good terms. After a while, Jeffrey turns eleven, and it has to be his worst birthday ever. He finds out the hard way that his mother is engaged.
About three days later, Mrs. Tifton finds Skye and Jeffrey wrestling on the ground. Just like, playful wrestling.
Mrs. Tifton kicks Batty (she was there too) and Skye out of the music room (what a terrible place to wrestle).
Mrs. Tifton doesn’t know that Mrs. Penderwick is dead, so she goes on throwing insult after insult at her. Naturally, Skye was eavesdropping. She couldn’t stand it anymore and burst into the music room. Skye shouts at Mrs. Tifton “My mother is dead, you hear me, DEAD!! She would never leave us like that, because she was the best mother in the world, unlike you, who won’t even listen to your own son!”
Mrs. tifton feels a hint of remorse for the Penderwicks. But, alas, she still send them home to the cottage. They are on sort of okay terms now.
Sadly, a few weeks later, the Penderwicks leave, and they all agree that they had the best time of their lives!
I would give this book ????? stars; I love IT! (This is like, the 7th time I’m reading it…)
Are there adventures in the book? It sounds like a very dramatic book (the “My mother is DEAD” part really ties it together). 7 times? That’s a lot of times! This book must be really good.
It is. Actually, I probably read it like, thirteen times, so I should edit my post.
I am a huge fan of the Penderwicks. These are very well done, and even though they are newer, I think they manage to feel old fashioned in a good way. I am happy you love them so much.