Jeanne Birdsall Books In Order

Publication Order of The Penderwicks Books

Publication Order of Picture Books

Jeanne Birdsall is a reputed American writer, who is famous for writing literature & fiction novels, children’s books, and adventure novels. She is mainly popular for writing the exciting Penderwicks book series, featuring the Penderwicks sisters. Author Birdsall made her debut in the writing field with the first Penderwicks novel in 2005 and also won the Young People’s Literature National Book Award for the same. Such a big success in the initial stage of her career gave her a much required boost and motivated her to write several more exciting novels. Author Birdsall’s birth took place in 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. She was mainly brought up in the suburbs, where she says she has learned a lot of things about life and living.

Author Birdsall had developed an interest in reading and writing at a very young age. She had even decided to write her own stories when she was just 10 years old. However, she could not fulfill her dream until she became 41 years old as there were some other important things in life that needed her attention more than her passion for writing. So, in order to keep herself busy and earn her living, Birdsall worked other jobs before she decided to take up writing as a full time career. And the most notable among all her jobs was being a photographer. Some of Birdsall’s popular photographic works have been displayed in several galleries in different parts of the world. Author Birdsall has a great affection towards pet animals too. She has kept a few pets in her house that include cats, snails, dogs, and rabbits. During her spare times, she loves to enjoy the company of these pets.

Birdsall likes to include her pets in her stories and develop some important plots around them. She feels this gives an interesting touch to her stories and also keeps the readers interested because of the unique character descriptions of pet animals. She is also very fond of her house, which is an old but comfortable one and is located in Northhampton, Massachusetts. Birdsall bought this old house surrounded by lovely gardens a long time back and resides in it even today with her unruly pet animals and her family. Author Birdsall was able to publish her first novel at 54 years of age. She introduced her fans to her exciting characters of the 4 Penderwicks sisters with her very first book and got a surprisingly large number of takers for it. So far, author Birdsall has penned 4 books in her debut series and has plans of making it a five-book series.

Besides this series, she has also created a picture book called Flora’s Windy Day. This book was published by Clarion Books in 2010 and Matt Phelan was its illustrator. All her Penderwicks novels have been released by Knopf publication. Author Birdsall has also collaborated with HarperCollins for the publication of her standalone novel, Lucky and Squash. She is thinking of writing some more volumes of this book and develop it into a book series too. Birdsall believes whatever she is today is because of her school teachers. She is grateful to all her teachers for encouraging her intellectual curiosity and teaching her respect and love. Birdsall is also thankful to her fans, who have always liked her works and supported her. It is only because of their love and support that she manages to come up with beautiful stories with the confidence of them becoming successful.

The Penderwicks series written by author Jeanne Birdsall is comprised of a total of 5 books, which were released between the years 2005 and 2018. A very popular novel of this series is entitled ‘The Penderwicks on Gardam Street’. It was released by the Knopf publishers in the year 2008. The main characters of the novel include Rosalind, Jane, Batty, and Skye Penderwick. The eldest of the Penderwicks is Rosalind, who takes care of everyone with responsibility. Skype has a short temper and works as a scientist. Jane likes to play soccer and wishes to become a writer. Batty is the youngest of the four. She likes to hear bedtime stories from Rosalind and play with her family dog named Hound.

At the start of the book’s story, it is shown that the four Penderwick sisters come to their home on the Gardam Street and hope to get some adventure. But, they get involved in a kind of adventure that none of them had thought of. They come to know that their father, Mr. Penderwick, has decided to go on a date on the advice of his sister, and they know it very well that it is going to end in a disaster. So, they come up with a plan to talk him out of it and save him from facing the humiliation of a rejection. Their plan turns out to be a brilliantly plotted, funny, and bold one. Such a mind blowing plan could have been executed by the Penderwick ladies only. The Penerwicks experience big laughs, family warmth, and high jinx as they make a triumphant return.

Another exciting book of this series is called ‘The Penderwicks in Spring’. The Knopf publishing company released this book too in 2015. In this book, author Birdsall has mentioned the chief characters in the roles of Nick Geiger and the Penderwicks. At the beginning of the story of the book, it is depicted that Gardam Street experiences the season of spring and everyone seems to be in a jolly mood. The members of the Penderwick family expect things to go smoothly for them, but they don’t know that they are about to face some surprises. Some of the surprises feel wonderful to them, like the returning of a neighbor named Nick Geiger from war, while some other look rather ridiculous. Batty informs the rest of the Penderwick family that she has planned to start a dog-walking business and this takes them by surprise in a ridiculous way.

The money that Batty makes initially from her new business is saved by her for a very special surprise for the family. She makes a plan to give this special surprise on the occasion of her birthday, which is only a few days away. But, before she can work out this plan, some other unexpected surprises are faced by the family members, causing their already planned surprises to fall apart. Just like all the other books of this series, this novel too is filled with charm, hilarity, and heart. The plot is mainly about family, friends, fun, and surprises. It also found many readers and succeeded in becoming a popular book. This book helped in the overall success of the whole series and contributed in selling 1 million printed copies of the overall series.