Best of RAR: Penderwicks Fans Rejoice!
Read-Aloud Revival ®
Sarah Mackenzie
4.9 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 6 July 2023
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, in this Best Of Read Aloud Revival episode, we’re revisiting a conversation about a series I absolutely adore: The Penderwicks, by Jeanne Birdsall.
The Penderwicks follows the escapades of four spirited sisters, Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty. The books are a modern nod to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, and they’ve won tons of awards including the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, several ALA Notable Children’s Book Awards, and the Massachusetts Children’s Book Award.
Since recording this interview for RAR episode 100, Jeanne unknowingly planted the seed for my own book, A Little More Beautiful, the Story of a Garden when I visited her and her Northampton, Massachusetts, home. So now, of course, we like to call A Little More Beautiful “our book.”
The first book in the Penderwicks series, The Penderwicks, A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy is our RAR Premium Family Book Club pick for this summer.
That means we’ve got a full Family Book Club Guide with all the trimmings available now for members AND if you and your kids sign up for RAR Premium, they will have a chance to meet Jeanne Birdsall live on Zoom on August 25th.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- How Jeanne got her start writing in her 40s and why it’s never too late to follow a dream
- About Jeanne’s character-driven writing process and why she always envisioned the Penderwicks as a series
- Where Jeanne gets her inspiration
Find the rest of the show notes at: https://readaloudrevival.com/penderwicks-book-club/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Sarah Mackenzie here. You're listening to the Read-A-Loud Revival, the show that helps |
| 0:10.9 | you make meaningful and lasting connections with your kids through books. |
| 0:17.0 | Today we're talking about a book series I adore. |
| 0:22.0 | In fact, if you were to ask me what kind of book that I wish there were more of, |
| 0:28.0 | like if you said, hey Sarah, name any book that you wish you could find more like, |
| 0:32.0 | I would say without hesitation or delay. |
| 0:35.3 | I would say The Penderwicks by Genie Birdsall. The Penderwicks is a captivating series and it follows |
| 0:41.8 | the escapades of the Penderivating family. |
| 0:44.0 | Four spirited sisters named Rosalind, |
| 0:48.0 | Sky, Jane, and Batty. |
| 0:51.0 | The books have won tons of awards including the National Book Award |
| 0:54.9 | for Young People's Literature, several ALA Notable Children's Book Awards, and the Massachusetts |
| 1:00.6 | Children's Book Award. They're a modern day nod to Louisa May Alcott's, little woman. |
| 1:07.0 | So it features four sisters, like I mentioned, right? |
| 1:09.4 | Rosalind is the oldest. |
| 1:10.8 | She's nurturing and dependable. Then there's Sky. She's this effort. is the |
| 1:15.0 | nurturing and dependable. Then there's Sky, she's this athletic firecracker of a sister. She kind of brings a competitive spirit to the mix. |
| 1:20.0 | Jane is the writer sister with a very vivid imagination and |
| 1:24.8 | Batty, my own personal favorite. |
| 1:27.8 | Although I love Jane too. |
| 1:29.0 | I love all of the sisters, but Batty's the youngest and |
| 1:32.0 | she's actually the star of my favorite of the all the |
... |
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