This is a review of the audio book.
Author: Jeanne Birdsall
Reader: Susan Denaker
Producer: Listening Library
Production Year: 2006
Most of the listeners will be: 4th through 7th grade girls.
Listener's Advisory: If you like books about sisters try The Sister's Club by Megan McDonald for a modern easy read or Little Women by Louisa May Alcott for a more challenging classic. You will have to read rather than listen, as there is not an audio version of The Sister's Club. Little Women is only on cassette tape and the production received mixed reviews.
Summary:
When Skye (11) collides with a boy in the tunnel in the hedge it never occurs to her that he might be running toward the same thing she is running from - Mrs. Tifton. She says some unfortunate things before the boy announces that the woman in the garden calling, "Jeffrey" is his mother (and he is the one she is calling for). After Jane (10) apologizes on Skye's behalf, to preserve the Pendewick family honor, Jane and later Skye, Rosalind (12), and Batty (4) become friends with Jeffrey (11). He even saves Batty's life. Twice! The five children have many adventures during the weeks that the Penderwicks rent the cottage on Arundel estate. Mrs. Tifton comes to refer to the girls as, "The wrong sort of people," but they might be just the friends Jeffrey needs to help him stand up to his mother.
My favorite passage:
The children stay out of Mrs. Tifton's way and out of the garden for days leading up to the garden club competition. But then, in the middle of the judging, Jane, possessed by the spirit of an invented British footballer, accidentally kicks two soccer balls into the garden. She, Skye, and Jeffrey crawl through the hole in the hedge after the balls and discover an upset urn of jasmine, just as the garden club walks up. Mrs. Tifton is forced to bite her tongue in front of her company, even though she is fuming about the disturbance.
What I really think:
Birdsall does an excellent job of giving each sister a unique, believable, and age-appropriate personality. Denaker skillfully gives each sister a different voice. As I listened, I laughed aloud at the unfortunate situations the girls got themselves into and cheered them on as they worked to resolve each problem. This novel is mostly the fun adventures of children on summer vacation, with access to gardens, attics, and their imaginations. But, there is a subtle message at the end for children and parents about talking and listening to one another.
