The Penderwicks on Gardam Street: 03/29/19

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall takes place a few months after the conclusion of the first books. Mr. Penderwick and his daughters are back at home on Gardam Street. Their life is set upside down when their aunt comes insisting it's time for her brother to start dating again.

The four Penderwick sisters take it into their own hands to prevent their father from remarrying. They set up dates with when their father will find boring. They find other ways of sabotage.

But... right next door, is a women and her young son and their cat. She is so like Mr. Penderwick that romance is bound to be in the air even if the two adults don't see it at first. And they are so close to each other geographically that there's not much for the sisters to do.

Although the Penderwicks are at home for this second volume and there's not much in the way of travel, it does still sit on the road narrative spectrum, albeit metaphorically.

The travelers are the Penderwicks as a family, just as in the first volume. That puts the traveler nearly at the bottom of the traveler column, a 33. The destination could be home since they are at home, but I'm setting it instead at uhoria. Birdsall writes in a timeless fashion, only hinting at specific events to give a sense as to when the story is taking place. The odd out of time feeling to it, though, qualifies it (like the previous one) as a CC. Finally there is the route taken. It could be Blue Highway in honor of the role Gardam street plays in setting the stage. It could be offroad for the forest at the end of the street. Instead, though, I'm placing it at maze (CC) for the very complicated schemes the girls set up to keep their father from dating. It's a maze full of traps and blind alleys that they make and impose on themselves and their father but it does complicate their path to becoming a blended family. Put all together it's 33CCCC.

The next book in the series is The Penderwicks at Point Mouette (2011).

Five stars

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