The Penderwicks in Spring

Locations
Call Number: Kids Book / Fiction / General / Penderwicks, Y Fiction / Birdsall, Jeanne
On Shelf At: Traverwood Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Traverwood Kids Books 4-week checkout	Kids Book / Fiction / General / Penderwicks	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown Kids Books 4-week checkout	Y Fiction / Birdsall, Jeanne	4-week checkout	Due 05-21-2024

Sequel to: The Penderwicks at Point Mouette.
As spring arrives on Gardam Street, there are surprises in store for each Penderwick, from neighbor Nick Geiger's expected return from the war to Batty's new dog-walking business, but her plans to use her profits to surprise her family on her eleventh birthday go astray.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

FUN!! submitted by AJ Chen on June 9, 2015, 4:47pm This is a great book. There's only one more Penderwicks!

Sad submitted by shreyan2004 on June 13, 2015, 12:38pm It is very sad that Hound dies and Batty must deal with it. Hound was a great dog.

the penderwicks are great submitted by KlezmerGirl on August 30, 2015, 5:08pm this book is wonderful, if you like little women or other books like that read this its similar and just as good

deep emotions submitted by camelsamba on June 27, 2018, 9:13pm The addition to the Penderwick series is primarily told from Batty's perspective (Ben is also fairly prominent). She discovers a new talent, and starts a dog-walking business so she'll have money to pay for lessons. But then she overhears something that turns her world upside down, and spirals into a deep depression. This turns kind of dark for a middle grades audience, but it can provide interesting discussion points for parents reading along with their tweens or young teens.

The penderwicks in spring submitted by catieyay321 on July 14, 2019, 3:00pm I loved this book so much it has lots of adventure

The Penderwicks in Spring: A Book Review submitted by yanxia cao on July 20, 2020, 10:54am It has been five years since the last Penderwick sister adventure. Rosalind is off to college, Skye and Jane are both in high school, Batty is in fifth grade, Ben is in second grade, and the Penderwicks family’s newest addition, Lydia, is in Goldie’s Day Care. The girls and boy are in store for some surprises, like Nick Griger, now in the army, coming home.
Batty has a new-found talent for singing, but things have gotten tight in their family, and Batty just cannot make her parents pay for singing classes when their car just broke down. In order to regain some money for classes, she starts brainstorming ideas to earn some extra cash. Her parents decide that her best choice is to have a dog walking business, and she gets her first client, Dachshund, an oversized dog, whose stomach brushes the ground when walking. But after the death of Hound, Batty doubts her ability to take care of dogs.
Jeffrey is in love with Skye, but Skye doesn’t return those feelings. Rosalind and Tommy are taking a break. Jane has gained a lot of boy friends to help her with the books that she is writing and a French transfer student leads to some misunderstandings.
Batty has planned a surprise for everyone on her birthday, but after listening to a certain conversation between Skye and Jeffrey, leaves Batty heartbroken and depressed. No one in her family understands the burden she is caring for, and she runs away, desperate for someone to understand what she is feeling.
MY OPINION:
(SPOILER ALERT)
The fact that it has been five years since the last installment is a major problem with this book.. The first three books all took place in one year, and then all of a sudden, instead of the little toddler who wore butterfly wings, Batty is a fifth-grader who is facing depression. I wished the books were more spaced out, a book every two or so years. The first three books are all “This family is perfect and has absolutely no issues or problems and is just PERFECT. The dad can find a wife, in like a month, and we can find trusting adults and kids in a matter of seconds. We have no cares in the world, and our life is just perfect.” In this book, however, troubles crop up. The first three books have too few issues, but this one has too many.
The book also just barely talks about Skye, Jane, and Rosalind. I understand how Rosalind is far away in college, but Skye and Jane are still in the house, and are only “available” and described at the very end after all of Batty’s issues are solved.
Moreover, Batty is a brat in this book. She is so overconfident of her skills in singing, and is so self-centered, not thinking of others, but only about herself. She is too lazy to get out of bed for days and forces her sister, Rosalind to drive home from college, the second time in a week, even after constant pleas from her brother to tell Rosalind to stay in college.
Batty is also over-dramatic. First, she is depressed about the death of her dog, then about her parents being unable to pay for her singing class. Then she hears that she is the reason that her mom died, makes an impetuous decision to skip school, and runs away. She is a crying mess throughout the whole book, having complete breakdowns throughout the whole book. Are those common thoughts and issues for a fifth grader?
The Penderwicks and Death, The Penderwicks and Depression, or The Penderwicks, the Not-so-perfect Family Anymore, would all be more appropriate titles for this book. Its actual title, The Penderwicks in Spring, just does not prepare the reader properly for this book. The Penderwicks in Spring makes me think that it’s all sunshine and flowers when it’s the exact opposite.
I give this book a six and a half stars out of ten stars. From multiple websites, this book is recommended for eight to twelve-year-olds, yet it includes many young adult aspects. It incorporates love, depression, and boyfriends, among other YA topics, which are not appropriate for an eight-year-old.
I would recommend this book for eight to ten-year-olds, but some of the things that happen in this book seem more towards older kids, but for older kids, seem too babyish and immature. The book is both immature and young-adult at the same time, so I don’t think that there is a suitable age for it.

Lots of Batty submitted by kathscot on August 16, 2021, 6:41pm This one is mostly about Batty who is having a hard time after the death of her beloved Hound. Some is sad to read, but it is good to think of ways to deal with sad things.