Book of the Semi-Month Club

On or about the 1st and 15th of each month, I'll try to post a blurb about a good book I've read recently. Calling it a "blurb" shall absolve me of pressure to write a proper review, but I'll do my best to stick to the usual review policy of no spoilers. I'll be featuring mostly MG and YA novels, but the occasional wildcard will no doubt appear.

Without further ado, let's lead off with THE PENDERWICKS ON GARDAM STREET, by Jeanne Birdsall, our second visit from the four Penderwick sisters: Responsible Rosalind, hot-tempered Skye, dreamy Jane, and shy Batty, and their attentive yet laid-back professor father. In this modern story with a gently old-fashioned tone, Dr. Penderwick's sister insists it's time her widowed brother begin dating again, to the consternation of all five Penderwicks. While the girls hatch a Save-Daddy-Plan (not to mention neighborhood spying, homework swap, and getting-rid-of-boys plans), their Latin-spouting, literature-loving father comes up with a Save-Daddy-Plan of his own. No one need bother fixing him up with women, he asserts, now that he's keeping company with one -- Marianne Dashwood.

Though at least one plot element is thoroughly predictable, this is a fun, uplifting visit to one of those fictional worlds readers hate to leave.