The Penderwicks

I don't have any finished projects to show you this time, but I did just recently finish listening to The Penderwicks: a Summer Tale of Four Sisters, two rabbits, and a very interesting boy by Jeanne Birdsall. This is a very nice book. The Penderwicks are a family of four sisters, aged 4 through 12, their widowed father, and a large clumsy dog who rent a small cottage on the Arundel estate for their summer vacation. There the girls befriend Jeffrey, the only son of the snooty owner of the estate, Mrs. Tifton. This book has a very old-fashioned feel to it. It harkens back to simpler times when children got in trouble for merely acting like children. The Penderwick sisters reminded me very much of the March sisters from Little Women. One is an aspiring writer, one is a little too quick to speak her mind, and the youngest is painfully shy. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't wait to finish this book so I could go on to something else. It's a very nice story, but I prefer a little more action and adventure.