First sentence from the prologue: Their mother had been here in the hospital with the new baby for almost a week.
First sentence from chapter one: Four years and four months later.
Premise/plot: The Penderwicks are back home from summer vacation. School has started again. And life is settling down. Or is it?! Aunt Claire comes with presents and a surprise. The surprise? A letter to Mr. Penderwick from his dead wife; she is pleading with him to start dating again, to love again, to be happy. Aunt Claire is insistent that he goes on FOUR dates. After four dates, she'll leave him again in peace. The Penderwick sisters come up with a Save-Daddy plan: a plan that sets him up with four horrible women so that their dad can get the dating over and done with. What the Penderwick sisters don't count on is the next door neighbor. She's a widow with a young son--a baby named Ben. She's a professor too.
Speaking of next door neighbors....can Rosalind and the boy next door be falling in love?
What will be the consequences when Jane and Skye do each other's homework assignments?
Will Hound make a new friend?
My thoughts: I enjoyed the first book in the series. But I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this second book. I love that Mr. Penderwick starts dating Marianne Dashwood. I love spending time with all four sisters. I don't know that I have a favorite. Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty. They are just WONDERFUL girls to spend time with.
One of my favorite scenes is when Batty stows away on her father's "date" with Marianne.
"Daddy, it's me!"
"What a lovely surprise," he said, not at all angry, or much surprised, either.
"Hound is here, too, on the floor." She threw aside his blanket, too.
"Of course he is, for whither you go, there he usually is, too. Let's go get some pizza."
...
"How did you know I was in your car?"
"There was no other logical reason for a large mound of blankets to appear in the backseat."
Batty was disappointed. Her hiding skills were not as great as she'd hoped. (197)
© 2018 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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