I love, love, love this sweet book about a family of four girls and their father (the mother died a few years earlier) who rent a cottage on an estate for a few weeks one summer. There they meet a boy who lives with a rigid mother and snooty soon-to-be stepfather. The girls help the boy broaden his horizons (much to his mother's dismay), which leads to some great adventures that are a lot of fun to read about.

The book reminds me of old children's classics--there is a bit of Frances Burnett, Louisa May Alcott in here...even though the setting is definitely the present, the themes and innocence of the girls seems as if it is from a different time. It very much reminds me of the books I loved as a girl.

Strong third grade readers on up to sixth or seventh grade will enjoy the book; it is definitely a book that will be more enjoyed by girls than boys.