Great Middle Grade Reads discussion

The BOTM for September is:

The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall

On this thread you can give your comments about the book and discuss it with others.

Inevitably some people can't get hold of a copy early in the month, so please put any spoilers in your comments behind 'spoiler' tags replacing ' with square brackets.

Also, be polite, tolerant, show respect, and enjoy good vibes!

My copy is expected to arrive at the library tomorrow. Looking back in my TBR, I see I put it on my list in November 2013! So it must have been runner-up for our very first BOTM on this forum. At last we get to read it! (Although Gregor the Overlander was excellent - check the Master list for other winners over the years)

Enjoy your extended summer...

Yay! I'm excited to read this one! I'm going to read it tomorrow:)

I just read The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy for a second time, and I really cannot understand how the novel is supposed to be an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (perhaps the sequels would make this more obvipous, but after reading book one, I just do not see that close a similarity). But what do other participants think?

(view spoiler)[While the general premise and set-up of Jeanne Birdsall's The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy certainly does have a delightfully old-fashioned feel to it, the anticipated all-encompassing enjoyment that I had fondly expected (and that the glowing reviews of The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by very many of my Goodreads friends also seemingly were predicting) has, I am sorry to say, never really fully materialised or me. For indeed, although The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy has generally been a pleasant and engaging enough reading romp for me with much that has made me smile with reading joy and appreciation, there are sadly also two main issues with Jeanne Birdsall's text, with the content of the author's printed words which have rather majorly bothered and frustrated me. And yes, these scenarios definitely have negatively affected my reading pleasure and in fact to the extent that I cannot really consider more than a relatively low and even kind of grumbling three stars for The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy.

Firstly, the entire family dynamics of the Penderwicks are in my humble opinion generally much too permissive (and yes, especially how lax the father tends to often be, this really does cause me to shake my head at times). Because really, throughout The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy, there are rather a few instances of the four sisters acting out and doing things that are either potentially dangerous or problematically rude and indeed sometimes even a bit deliberately destructive. However, for the majority of these presented peccadilloes and even when the father might attempt to be critical, everything is usually simply justified, everything is kind of explained away and considered at best to not be all that significant anyhow (in particular when the girls repeatedly mess up Mrs. Tifton's gardens, which should at least in my opinion have resulted in some consequences and the girls not continuously repeating this, not to mention that even with regard to their family dog, proper training and having Hound not continuously behave badly seems to be something that the Penderwicks really do not even want to consider).

Even more of a potential issues for me though and secondly, albeit that Mrs. Tifton and Dexter Dupree are in The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy total (and also to and for my reading tastes rather much too stereotypical) villains and simply and utterly horrid, the casual narrational acceptance and lack of consequences for Mrs. Tifton's neglected and henpecked son Jeffrey running away and thereby of course totally freaking out and worrying his mother, this really does tend to make me feel more than a bit uncomfortable. For honestly, while I can of course readily understand why Jeffrey wants to run away, should Jeanne Birdsall have depicted this act of potentially dangerous defiance in as positive a manner as she does and should especially Mr. Penderwick not immediately have contacted Mrs. Tifton when Jeffrey shows up unannounced at the cottage and in the middle of the night?

Therefore, while much of The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy has certainly been a delightful way for me to spend a few reading hours, the above mentioned personal reading issues with Jeanne Birdsall's narrative, they most definitely did make me majorly annoyed at times and also rather uncomfortable. And in particular the constant lack of parental guidance and the absence of adequate consequences for bad and unacceptable behaviour (and yes, even if this behaviour might rather be a bit justified on a deep and philosophical level), this has definitely rendered The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy not as magical a general reading experience for me as I had wanted and expected, still mostly sufficiently enjoyable, of course, but not nearly enough so for me to truly wax too uninhibitedly positively and with praise about The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy. (hide spoiler)]

Just started reading this one.

Scott wrote: "Just started reading this one."

I hope you enjoy reading this one, Scott:)

Okay, I'm intrigued. I'm going to start it too!

At my school, we have two libraries. One for K-6 and another for MS and HS. I had to get this book from the lower library, and the writing does seem to me to be more juvenile than what I would generally consider MG. I hope no one takes offense to that. I'm here to learn and would love to hear your opinions about book classifications. Thanks!

Scott wrote: "At my school, we have two libraries. One for K-6 and another for MS and HS. I had to get this book from the lower library, and the writing does seem to me to be more juvenile than what I would gene..."

I did not find the writing juvenile bur with regard to writing and style, that is often really personal and I found styles not to my tastes which others adored and vice versa.

For me, the main issues with the novel is that the father really does not parent his four daughters and that there is quite a bit of for me questionable and lacking in manners behaviour.

Sorry, I didn't mean the writing was juvenile and should have said that I think it is written for a more juvenile audience rather than middle school. There are valuable lessons and morals here, but I think older kids wouldn't appreciate the way the girls overreact to somewhat everyday situations. Baking cookies and writing a speech to apologize for a comment any kid might say, without malicious intent, seem like overkill.

Age-appropriateness aside, I thought the writing itself was good. However, the story was somewhat predictable, and I didn't appreciate that much of the resolution occurs offstage. I would think that the mom's low opinion of the Penderwicks probably didn't change after the dust settles.

Scott wrote: "Sorry, I didn't mean the writing was juvenile and should have said that I think it is written for a more juvenile audience rather than middle school. There are valuable lessons and morals here, but..."

That is a good point about us not often getting to read about the conflict resolutions when they occur (and yes, there if definitely a lot of predictability present).

And like you, I do find that some of the scenarios feel a bit over the top, but I still think many of them could have been avoided in the first place if the father were a bit more "present" in his daughters' lives and not amicable but rather removed and distant.

Seems that the un-present parent is a staple in MG and YA. Any good parent would put an end to anything adventurous that most kids would want to read about. At least dad wasn't killed off too.

I do think that dad had a moment where he almost took charge at the end. But as I said, most of the resolution took place off stage. I think it would have been a better ending if we both saw how the conflict was resolved and if it had been orchestrated by dad.

On a similar note, I recently finished a memoir that detailed the adventures of the author and his twin brother during the eighties. Of course, back then, there was less worry and less supervision by many parents. But the title is most telling: Where the Hell Were Your Parents? By Nathan Weathington.

Scott wrote: "But the title is most telling: Where the Hell Were Your Parents? by Nathan Weathington"

This reminds me of a comment I heard a couple years ago about a dad watching The Goonies with his son, and the son was asking where all the parents were. It really highlights the differences in parenting and the freedoms (for better or worse) that we had as children that the children of today do not experience. LOL

Jennifer wrote: "Scott wrote: "But the title is most telling: Where the Hell Were Your Parents? by Nathan Weathington"

This reminds me of a comment I heard a couple years ago about a dad watching The Goonies with ..."

Fact is that even with today's helicopter parenting, I think we as children had better rules and also were much more likely to follow the rules.

I'm halfway through and I see what you mean about parents, or their absence.
We have a thread somewhere about the 'absent parent' syndrome. It's the only way to give kids a chance of a real adventure, it seems.
I am of the era when I was let out to play and expected to turn up at mealtimes... which I rarely missed lol

.... you see, I've just been here too long...
The Dead Parent syndrome thread is from 2013-4!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Scott wrote: "Sorry, I didn't mean the writing was juvenile and should have said that I think it is written for a more juvenile audience rather than middle school. There are valuable lessons and morals here, but..."

Just to pick up on a point here. We've discussed this in the past (there's probably a thread from the Dark Ages in the General Discussion section), but as I understand it there's a difference between middle GRADE and middle SCHOOL. So appropriate to Middle Grade is important, and means the writing can cover quite a wide range, from short chapter books to advanced readers - provided the subject matter is appropriate.

And I've now finished the Penderwicks, which I enjoyed. I did wonder what decade it was supposed to be set, though, given that it was published in 2005. It seems like a sixties or earlier society.
In which case, the entire situation seems pretty normal to me!

If it was supposed to be something to do with Little Women, I think someone was suffering from girl-phobia. It's about four girls. Little Women has four young women. It's set in the eastern US. I think that about covers the similarities, doesn't it?

I really liked the characterisation of the four girls. They seemed pretty real to me. But then... is it just too old-fashioned?

PS. Manybooks - I loved your spoiler rant!

Jemima wrote: "And I've now finished the Penderwicks, which I enjoyed. I did wonder what decade it was supposed to be set, though, given that it was published in 2005. It seems like a sixties or earlier society. ..."

Supposedly the author herself meant this novel and the entire series to be a LW adaptation but in book one I just do not really see this and I have not read the sequels.

I thought I might like the novel better this time around but the lack of guidance and consequences for the girls still annoys me even if I can understand them going after their landlady.

Seeing this discussion is making me really excited to get into this book. I've just started and only in chapter 2, but I like it so far. Though, it did seem surprising that the dad would just drive around lost (well, okay, THAT part isn't really surprising, lol) and then let his 11-year-old daughter get the directions for him. He is definitely coming across as distracted and disconnected early on.

Yup, the father is definitely the epitome of the absent minded professor.

Well, I was always good at map reading so I’d have been the eleven-year old who worked it out lol

Okay, so having finished reading the book, I can see where some are concerned about the lack of parental oversight the children have. To me, though, it was very similar to my own childhood when we would be told to "go outside and be back for dinner." While my parents would have a general idea of where my brothers and I were, they certainly were not privy to the hijinks that we got up to while we were outside playing. And though we never had a run-in with a bull, there were a number of times that we would climb onto the roof of the house to retrieve whatever ball had gotten stuck at the time - something equally dangerous.

At the same time, when Mr. Penderwick was present in the scenes, it was clear that he loved his daughters and was concerned about them. He also does a great job of supporting Jeffrey at the end, which I really liked. Yes, he was a bit absent-minded, but he actually ended up reminding me a lot of my own father: easy-going, not easily ruffled, saying things in a foreign language (for my dad, it was Russian, lol), and generally treating his children like small adults who need guidance, and the occasional censure, but don't need their hands held at every step.

I think it's also important to keep in mind that the girls were on summer vacation. That is generally a time when kids have a lot more free time that needs to be filled. I don't see Mr. Penderwick letting the girls explore the grounds of Arundel during the day as particularly concerning. While it is true that children aren't typically given this level of freedom today, the girls were also pretty limited in where they could go. Yes, they ran around on their own without parental oversight, but they were always on the Arundel grounds.(view spoiler)[ Even when Batty ran away, she didn't get too far from the main grounds, given how quickly Jeffrey and her sisters reached her. And, if we take Jane's account with a grain of salt due to her tendency to exaggerate for dramatic effect, we can see that while she did walk out into the road in front of an approaching vehicle, there was still a sufficient amount of time, if not plenty, to remove her from danger. (hide spoiler)]

Jennifer wrote: "Okay, so having finished reading the book, I can see where some are concerned about the lack of parental oversight the children have. To me, though, it was very similar to my own childhood when we ..."

Lovely analysis :)