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The Penderwicks Readalong
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The Penderwicks in Spring (Book 4)
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Elizabeth
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Aug 02, 2022 10:21PM
This will be our discussion thread for The Penderwicks in Spring. Be cautious reading comments if you have not finished the book. If you are making comments that include spoilers, be sure to say that at the start. I hope you enjoy the book.
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You will notice that several years have passed since book 3. I like that the story has progressed enough that we can see how the younger kids are growing and changing. Lydia is a cute replacement for Batty as the youngest Penderwick. Instead of butterfly wings, she loves tutus and tiaras. I'm only a few chapters in at this point. I hope that you all enjoy the book. You don't need to read the whole book to post comments. Feel free to jump in anytime.
I’m just not feeling this book. It is written much later than the first 3 and takes places later. Maybe I liked the antics of the girls as girls. I find the school setting for some of the book boring. I also find Ben boring with his rocks. Lydia is more annoying than cute. I’ve made it 20% so I’ll wait a couple days and see if I pick it back up.
It does have a different feel, but I like seeing the girls as they've gotten older. This one is definitely more about Batty and it's a little slow getting going. It takes a little while for some of the other characters to start showing up in the story. I'm about halfway through and Jeffrey has just arrived. I'm enjoying the dogs too. I'm not finding Lydia annoying, but I can see that some would. I thought that Ben shouldn't have tried to hard to avoid her, but I guess that's probably realistic.
I think I’m done with this series. I wished the author would of left the series as a trilogy as there was a few years between book 3 & 4 being published. The first three were within a year and I loved them. Batty and Hound were the best. The older girls were more enjoyable as preteens too. Thanks Elizabeth for a great readalong. I’m glad I was introduced to the Penderwicks.
I literally cried real tears yesterday as I was reading Chapter 21 as Batty was finally spilling out everything that had been bothering her. Then I teared up again as Mr. Penderwick explained everything that had been misunderstood. I just love how the family members all have such respect for each other. I don't agree with all of the swearing to secrecy, but yet even the parents have enough respect for each of them to not insist that they break a promise.
Melinda wrote: "I think I’m done with this series. I wished the author would of left the series as a trilogy as there was a few years between book 3 & 4 being published. The first three were within a year and I lo..."Melinda, thanks for joining in. Did you end up finishing this one or leave it at 20 percent?
I just finished it this morning and really loved how heartfelt it all was.
I never could understand parents not being open and honest to their children. I understand they feel they are protecting them but in reality they are hurting everyone. All the girls should of had grief counselling about their mother’s death. EspeciallyBatty, not immediately but when old enough. I just found I didn’t care enough about the characters in this book. I can admit I found the last three whimsical but this one more down to earth which isn’t my kind of middle grade.
I read the book in its entirety. I just suck at updating my currently reading. It was a very easy read but I’ve realized I’m very particular in my middle grade contemporaries. I enjoy mg fantasies much more. This series read like the 50’s for the most part with contemporary thrown in. I don’t know of any very young children running around unsupervised in this day and age. As well as teens without cellphones. It didn’t seem to know what it was which made me not as drawn into it. It’s a very good series, just not for me at the point it’s at.
True, the time frame is very ambiguous and difficult to pinpoint. It feels like 80s or 90s to me. Even if it's the 90s cell phones were just coming into their own and most kids did not have them yet. I saw an interview where the author said that she wanted to write books that she wanted to read when she was young, so I think that is why there is a classic feel to them.
I will say that if you didn't care for Penderwicks in Spring then I doubt you would enjoy Penderwicks at Last. It skips several more years before it starts. The whole book leads up to an event which gets completely skipped over and is therefore not very satisfying in the end. I still enjoyed the book for the most part, but that part was disappointing.
