The Penderwicks at Point Mouette

by Jeanne Birdsall
narrated by Susan Denaker
New York : Random House/Listening Library, p2011.

In their third adventure, the Penderwick sisters are going on vacation. Their father and Ianthe are going on their honeymoon to England, Rosalind is going to New Jersey, and the other three girls are going to Point Mouette with their Aunt Claire. This leaves Skye as the OAP (oldest available Penderwick). She's not sure she can do it. What if something goes wrong? What if Batty's inconsolable, or drowns, or blows up?

Reading the Penderwick books reminds me of Otis. When I was a young kid, my family used to go to a family member's summer homes in this small town in the Berkshires. It was way in the woods, far from "civilization" and trouble and worry and real life, but it was an indelible part of my childhood summers and I have so many great memories of spending time with family there. Reading the Penderwicks is sort of like that. They're a generally happy family with small family woes, but somehow removed from Issues and violence, and it's just plain hard to be stressed when you listen to their everyday, modern-but-no-cell-phones stories. Is the plot line sometimes predictable and sappy? Well, yes, but who really cares when you're enjoying the interactions between Skye and Jane while the latter goes slightly gaga over a boy, and Batty tries to convince her older sisters that she really does enjoy music, and all the other true-to-life family interactions that made me laugh? I can't stay stressed when I read this books, and I loved every minute of the audio production.

Touch Blue

by Cynthia Lord
New York : Scholastic Press, 2010.

Tess lives on an island off the coast of Maine, and she can't imagine any other life than hers, going to the one room schoolhouse where her mother teacher and fishing lobster with her father. But year-round islanders have been moving to the mainland, leaving fewer and fewer kids on the island. To keep their school from closing, a few families decide to take in foster kids, keeping the numbers up enough to satisfy the state. Aaron comes to live with Tess, her sister Libby, and their parents. Tess and Libby imagine what it might be like to have Aaron live with him, but neither of them expect what actually happens that summer.

I read Newbery Honor-winning Rules by the same author a few years ago, so I was really excited to see a new book out by Cynthia Lord. This is the sort of story that I enjoyed reading as a child when, much like Tess, I was reading The Great Gilly Hopkins and Anne of Green Gables. Tess narrates the story, sharing her fears about moving to the mainland, her nervousness about friends, and her attempts at finding good luck. When she misunderstood some of Aaron's actions, I cringed with sympathy for both, understanding (as an adult, especially) where they were coming from. A sweet story I would recommend to readers who enjoy character-driven realistic fiction.