The Penderwicks at Point Mouette (review)

The irrepressible Penderwicks (The Penderwicks, BCCB 9/05; The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, BCCB 7/08) are parting ways for the summer: Mr. Penderwick is taking his new wife and her young son to England for a working honeymoon, oldest daughter Rosalind is going to the beach with her best friend, and the rest—Skye, Jane, Batty, and family friend Jeffrey—will be heading to a quiet cottage in Maine with Aunt Claire. Though Rosalind is grateful for the well-deserved respite from her duties as OAP (Oldest Available Penderwick), none of the girls is quite comfortable with Skye assuming that role, especially Skye herself. When Aunt Claire sprains her ankle in a fall, the crew decides they won't tell Rosalind unless things get really bad, which of course they do by turns, mostly because the girls are all gifted with active and divergent imaginations that turn first crushes, lost lists, and solemn wishes into high drama that reads like gentle comedy. With the help of a friendly neighbor, they discover new talents and manage to survive the great many adventures that befall them in their two weeks away from their firmest supports, but then that neighbor himself becomes their most important adventure of the summer in ways they could never have imagined. Traversing ground tenderly and lovingly mapped by the likes of Alcott and Montgomery, Birdsall elegantly pulls off a manifestly improbable twist worthy of her predecessors in this genre; readers will thrill to the idea that life might perhaps organize itself so that chance meetings can prove providential and all the right people get their happy endings. Those new to the series will want to pick up the other two titles to catch up on the established personalities that are in full force here, while established Penderwick fans will delight at watching old friends grow in rich and satisfying ways.