The Penderwicks on Gardam Street

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street / Jeanne Birdsall.— New York : Knopf, 2008.

308 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.

Sequel to: The Penderwicks

ISBN: 9780375840906

1. Massachusetts -- Fiction. 2. Single-parent families -- Fiction. 3. Sisters -- Fiction. 4. Dating (Social customs) -- Fiction.

813.6

The four Penderwick sisters have a problem. They feel their formerly beloved Aunt Claire is pushing a program of remarriage for their widowed father. This can only mean one thing for them: a stepmother. And everyone knows that stepmothers come in only two varieties; they’re either wicked or evil. It’s time for a secret Save-Daddy Plan. Fix him up with some really horrible dates and then he won’t be interested in marriage. But it’s hard to concentrate on the plan when you also have to deal with new next-door neighbors, boys running football drills through your yard, homework—I mean, who would want to write a play about the Aztecs—Sixth Grade Performance Night and soccer games.

Birdsall writes in the tradition of Beverly Cleary and Eleanor Estes. The pleasure of this realistic family story comes from the characters of the siblings, their friends and neighbors and the trials of growing up and finding your place in the world and with the other people in it, even when one of them is an annoying neighborhood boy.