The Penderwicks is a children's book series by American author Jeanne Birdsall. The series consists of five books: The Penderwicks (2005), The Penderwicks on Gardam Street (2008), The Penderwicks at Point Mouette (2011), The Penderwicks in Spring (2015), and The Penderwicks at Last (2018).
Characters
Main characters
Rosalind Penderwick - A caring, responsible 12-year-old as of Book 1, Rosalind, as the eldest sibling, has looked after the family since her beloved mother died four years prior. Rosalind, in more than one way, acts as the parent-like sibling to all of her sisters (particularly to Batty) and usually is the voice of reason among the sisters. However, throughout the first book, she tries to figure out her true feelings for Cagney, the gardener at Arundel Hall. Rosalind is prone to worrying and misses Mrs. Penderwick a lot. Her sisters say that she still cries in her sleep sometimes. She often is the one who calls the MOOPS (Meeting of Older Penderwick Sisters) and the MOPS (Meeting of Penderwick Sisters). She enjoys baking, and speaking on the phone with her best friend, Anna, and is also quite skilled at basketball. She begins dating her neighbor Tommy Geiger several months after her thirteenth birthday in April. In book four, Rosalind is in college, and has stopped dating Tommy Geiger, instead coming home with a fellow student, Oliver. Everyone dislikes Oliver, and Rosalind eventually breaks up with him and she and Tommy start dating again. In the fifth book, Rosalind and Tommy are getting married at Arundel. Skye Penderwick - A tempered, energetic, and witty 11-year-old as of Book 1, Skye is vastly different from her sisters, most notably in appearance. With straight blonde hair and blue eyes, Skye resembles her mother (her other sisters have brown curly hair and brown eyes), but does not consider herself able to match her mother's beauty. She is fiercely loyal to her friends and family. Being the most outrageous and tomboyish of the group, Skye is often at odds with her sisters for their more "feminine" likes. Skye plays soccer and enjoys playing the sport with her sister Jane and her friend Jeffery which the Penderwicks meet in the first book. She is most awkward with Batty, for Skye is not much with babies and kids. Skye often seeks Rosalind's advice on matters such as temper and feelings and is excellent at math (she knew long division by second grade, and is excused from her sixth-grade math class so she could teach herself geometry in the library). She is also described as being an abominable musician, with her clarinet lessons having been canceled when a neighbor complained. She plans to become an astrophysicist as a career, and during her trip to Point Mouette brought her favorite book Death by Black Holes. In book four, Skye is trying to convince Jefferey to stop trying to date her, and during one of her conversations with him, mentions that her mother died because of Batty, causing Batty's emotional turmoil in the rest of the book. In the fifth book, she is dating Dusko Dušek, a Czech marine biologist, and is eventually persuaded to turn the Arundel wedding into a double one, she is marrying at the same time as Rosalind and Tommy. Jane Penderwick - A dreamy and artistic 10-year-old as of Book 1 who works to be a famous and respected author, Jane has already begun writing a series of short books, following a heroine Sabrina Starr as she rescues various animals, and later people. Jane often confuses life with fantasy, getting lost in her fanciful imagination which sometimes bothers Skye. In addition to Sabrina Starr, Jane possesses an alter ego, Mick Hart, a rough-mouthed British character who keeps her from crying during soccer games. She and Skye are the closest of the four sisters, although they often rub each other the wrong way because of their vastly different personalities (exemplified by their room at home, in which Skye's half is kept tidy and white while Jane's is painted lavender and perpetually cluttered). Her writing style often incorporates items from past literature and legends, and she supposedly hates revising, choosing instead to maintain her original ideas. Her writing process is followed throughout the series, as she completes a Sabrina Starr book in each Penderwicks novel; she also writes a play, "Sisters and Sacrifice", which, though written while switching homework assignments with Skye, is chosen as the sixth-grade play. She is completely dedicated to writing, saying that she will perhaps never marry, unless she'll find a man who likes to cook and clean. In the fifth book, Jane is not writing a Sabrina Starr book, but a novel about a time-traveling female detective called Philippa de Nel and an art forger, including a side romance with the artist Pieter de Hooch. Furthermore, Batty's ex-boyfriend, the artist Wesley, predicts, when he's leaving, that Jane will probably write 5 books in a series. Elizabeth Penderwick (Batty) - The youngest child, Batty is a very innocent and very shy 4-year-old as of Book 1 who is a great lover of animals and her family. Batty always asks Rosalind to tell her a story about their mother almost every night at bedtime. She is very fond of Hound, the family dog, as he is of her, and is also fond of Cagney's rabbits, Yaz and Carla, and visits them almost every day to give them carrots. She almost always hides behind her sisters when she meets a new person and, for the first book, always wore orange-and-black dress-up butterfly wings, for an unknown reason. During the second book, she befriends Ben, the toddler who had recently moved next door, often spying on "Bug Man" with him. During her summer at Point Mouette, she is taught music by Jeffrey and proves to be a very able musician. In the Fifth book, she is stated to be attending college in Boston studying singing. Jeffrey Tifton - An only child who turns 11 during the first book, Jeffrey led a largely contented if dull, life before meeting the Penderwicks, as he lived in a grand estate called Arundel Hall with a kind housekeeper, Churchie, to care for him. His father had left him before he was born, and Jeffrey initially does not know anything about him. Jeffrey had suffered the loss of his grandfather, a well-known general, however, Jeffrey, is an immensely talented musician, who plays piano, clarinet, and a little cello. He wants to be a musician and vehemently protests this fate. With the aid of the Penderwicks, he manages to tell them his opinions and eventually enrolls at the Welborn-Hughes boarding school in Boston while taking private lessons at the New England Conservatory. His musical ability is later revealed to come from his father, whom he meets at Point Mouette. His birthday is August 8. In book four he has a crush on Skye and keeps trying to get her to date him, which she refuses to do because she doesn't want to give up her friendship with him and wants to focus on studying. He eventually gets over it, and in the fifth book is hinted at having feelings for Batty. Ben Penderwick - He's an energetic and sarcastic red-haired boy, the only male kid in the family. Iantha's son and the Penderwicks step-brother. He is obsessed with making movies and forcing his younger sister Lydia to play in them. He was just one-year-old in The Penderwicks on Gardam Street and The Penderwicks at Point Mouette, Seven in The Penderwicks in Spring, and 16 in The Penderwicks at Last. He has a best friend names Rafael that he loves playing action figures with and making alien movies. In his movies, he always makes Lydia die. Ben looks up to Nick Geiger, thinking he's the coolest for being in the military and learning the military alphabet and learning all about the military with his best friend Rafael. He's absolutely disgusted by the idea of ever having a girlfriend and refuses to listen to anyone who says he should date Remy, Tess, or Nora. He makes friends with people and becomes close with them easily, he's one of the most social Penderwicks. Though he hasn't known Jeffery as long as his older sisters, they're still pretty close. Ben jokes, saying, he'd marry Jeffery for his money. He wishes he had brothers instead of five sisters sometimes, saying he wished Tommy and Nick were his brothers. When Batty thinks she killed her mom and Hound and is experiencing serious problems, Ben's super worried and tells his best friend Rafael, who comes up with a ton of unlikely stories, like that she was bitten by a tsetse fly and has sleeping sickness or that she was abducted by aliens. Batty then tells Ben she tried to run away to Boston to see Jeffery and tells him to keep it a secret on the Penderwick family honor. Mr. Penderwick guesses after interviewing Ben, who was trying his hardest to not say anything. Once his dad found out, Ben started to sob, saying he hates secrets. In the fifth book, he helps Alice and Lydia make a movie to make Jack, Alice's brother, jealous. He chooses an alien movie and Alice gets really invested, thinking Ben's really cool. Ben's a complete child at heart, not taking anything except maybe movie making and keeping secrets too seriously. He loves making sarcastic comebacks and fun jokes. He and his best friend Rafael plan on moving to Hollywood and becoming famous movie directors together, and they still have that dream to this day. Ben and Rafael are the only friendship still confirmed in the last book, not confirming Keiko and Batty, Rosalind and Anna, and Jane and Artie and Molly. Lydia Penderwick - the youngest Penderwick (as of book 4). The daughter of Mr. Penderwick and Iantha and the Penderwick sisters' half-sister. Not much is known about her character because she is only 2 years old in the fourth book, but she is the central character in book five, being 11 years old. She loves to dance, admiring Fred Astaire and Swan Lake, and hates the fact that her family thinks she likes everyone without exception. She also dislikes Ben's forcing her into being the main character in his movies, who invariably dies at the end. She befriends Cagney's children Alice (10 years) and Jack (12 years). It is thought that she marries Jack after their run into each other in the tunnel.
Supporting characters
Penderwick family
Martin Penderwick - The head of the Penderwick household, he is a very loving and caring, if often absentminded, father and always forgets where his glasses are. A professor of botany at Cameron University, he frequently uses Latin in everyday speech, and also enjoys classical music, particularly opera. Following the loss of his first wife, Elizabeth, he is able to look after his four daughters well, yet he feels guilty that his eldest daughter Rosalind had taken over many of her mother's duties, being the one to advise and comfort her sisters. He marries next-door neighbor and colleague Iantha Aaronson in the second book, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street. He is largely absent from the third book. Elizabeth Penderwick - The mother of the sisters, she died from cancer shortly after Batty's birth, and thus is not present in any of the series. The only time she appears in the books (except for some occasional mentions made by the sisters) is in the prologue of ‘'The Penderwicks on Gardam Street.' With blond hair and blue eyes (like her daughter Skye), she is regarded by all the sisters to be beautiful. Shortly before her death, she writes a letter detailing her worries that Mr. Penderwick would be lonely after her death, and advises him to resume dating. This letter is delivered by Mr. Penderwick's sister Claire four years later, setting the second book's events in motion.