(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Matt Phelan. Eleven-year-old Gwen MacKinnon -- neglected, unwanted, shuttled between self-centered parents -- has been sent to stay with her great uncle Matthew near Boston. There she discovers that the town's library is named for an ancestor. "Nothing in Gwen's life had suggested there could be a building named after a MacKinnon -- they weren't that kind of family." Even more surprising, Gwen learns from the preschooler who lives upstairs that the library is home to a large clan of Lahdukan, eight-inch-tall, winged creatures who emigrated from Scotland with the original MacKinnon and have since thrived under the care of generations of MacKinnon girls initiated to be their Qalbas, or caretakers. Gwen learns that the library building is set to be remodeled, and so the Lahdukan will lose their home. With the help of a former Qalba, Matthew's grown daughter Nora, Gwen moves the MacKinnon Lahdukan to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where they join up with another clan. Gwen's role in this grand plan requires both diplomacy and physical bravery, but the rewards are great. With the help of her understanding uncle, an exemplary children's librarian, and the Lahdukan themselves, Gwen learns that she is worthy of love and respect. Birdsall's endearing fantasy features loving and lovable new friends both human and Lahdukan, with Phelan's winsome black-and-white illustrations interspersed.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2025

(2) 4-6 The Penderwick series finale is a summertime reverie set at the Arundel estate where it all began fifteen years before. With soon-to-be-married eldest sibling Rosalind and middle sisters Skye, Jane, and Batty (mostly) grown-up, likable youngest half-sister Lydia, a dancer, takes center stage. Although fans will be sad to say goodbye, they'll be content to see the Penderwicks go "prancing, leaping, gamboling into the future."

Reviewer: Monica Edinger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2018

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Harry Bliss. "My favorite pet is sheep," begins a farm boy's school paper. (The book's text resembles a child's handwriting on lined paper.) The ensuing report is made up not of traditional sheep facts but of entertaining lessons the boy learned while cavorting with his sheep (e.g., "You can't put sheep into a wheelbarrow"). New Yorker cartoonist Bliss's illustrations play like perfect punch lines.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) 4-6 In this fourth Penderwicks book, ten-year-old Batty starts an odd-jobs business to pay for voice lessons. There's some melancholy here: Batty suffers benign neglect from favorite-sister Rosalind and hurtful words from Skye. But stepbrother Ben and half-sister Lydia; neighbor Nick; best friend Keiko; and musical mentore Jeffrey provide consolation and advice. And at her climactic Grand Eleventh Birthday Concert, Batty rewardingly finds her voice.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2015

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jane Dyer. Lucky and Squash are neighbor dogs whose friendship remains thwarted by a gate. Determined to unite their shy owners so that they can be brothers, the dogs hatch madcap plans, thrice running away to encourage their owners to team up to find them. Dyer's realistically rendered watercolor illustrations lend heart to an abruptly silly--and yet satisfying--ending.

Reviewer: Allison Cole

(2) 4-6 In the third Penderwick book, Skye, Jane, Batty, and Jeffrey, supervised by Aunt Claire, retreat to Maine. Skye is Oldest Available Penderwick; Jane writes a love story; and Batty shows musical talent. Birdsall also treats readers to strong supporting players, most notably Alec, who transforms Jeffrey's life. As usual, there's great give-and-take between the story's old-fashioned sensibility and modern-day details.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2011

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Matt Phelan. After little brother Crispin spills Flora's paints, their frazzled mother sends them outside. When an unusually strong wind carries the pair away, Flora resists giving Crispin up to the various (personified) elements and creatures that want him. The sibling dynamic proves to be more tangled than expected in Birdsall's warm text. Phelan's expressive ink, watercolor, and pastel pictures softly illustrate the blustery adventure.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(2) 4-6 This sequel finds life going along as it should--until Mr. Penderwick contemplates dating. Panicked, his daughters concoct a "Save-Daddy Plan." The solution to the dating dilemma may be obvious to readers from the outset, but no matter: Birdsall again delivers genuinely funny scenes and tender moments between father and daughters. The Penderwicks are fully fleshed-out characters who deserve a happily-ever-after ending.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2008

(2) 4-6 Along with their loving but preoccupied botanist father and a clumsy dog, the motherless Penderwick sisters spend their summer holiday in the Massachusetts Berkshires in a rose-covered cottage on the grounds of a mansion. Suffused with affectionate humor, this charming, old-fashioned story feels familiar in the way the best books seem like old friends.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2005