The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy-Jeanne Birdsall August 20, 2007
The subtitle alone pulled me into this one and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s Little Women uproariously updated for this century. Kids will love the soccer-match-of-destruction into the snooty lady’s garden competition. It’s “two-on-one slaughter, a combination of cross-country running, guerilla warfare, and monkey-in-the-middle” complete with war cries of “FISH HEAD!”, “KNAVE!” AND “CHURL!” “Did anyone think then about the Garden Club competition? Did anyone hesitate, vaguely remembering what they’d been told over and over-stay out of the gardens that day?” If that doesn’t have you turning pages, the death race between Hound and one of the aforementioned rabbits, will. It’s a hard book to set down. So pick it up already and get started on a fun read. For you grown-ups, there’s conflict, there’s injustice, and kids learn to handle both with help from wise adults.
The Penderwicks
Written by Jeanne Birdsall
Accelerated Reader RL 4.7-Middle Grade interest level
(Review by DeEtte)