#the penderwicks in spring

[bugmancatchers]

Batty: I’m sad.  Ben: Don’t be sad, because sad backwards is das.  Ben: And das not good.

[alwaysspeakshermind]

Having another one of those urges to rewrite the entire final book in a series that I started reading at the appropriate age but that destroyed my life as an adult because it ended WRONG and I am BITTER about it and there is a part of me that will never rest until things are set RIGHT.

No, I do not care that it's a middle grade series.

I WAS ROBBED AND I WILL NOT GO GENTLY INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT.

[izzielizzie]

the fact that anna was not one of rosalind’s bridesmaids in at last is actually a tragedy i really wanted to see her all grown up

[dear-ao3]

🫵 FELLOW PENDERWICKS ENJOYER?!!?? MY DEAR WE SHALL HAVE A SPRING WEDDING ( also i can bribe w f1 photos from miamiiiii )

BY JOVE

MESSAGE ME MY LOVE

[leafcabbage]

its like in the penderwicks in spring when batty overhears a conversation she shouldnt and gets depressed and then she cant sing anymore but its not singing its writing and its not overhearing a conversation its theres something wrong in my brain. but we get through.

[librarycomic]

I took a long trip last fall to Singapore and Nepal. Here's some of what I read (and reread), plus a few fails, too.

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street (2nd in the series) and The Penderwicks in Spring (4th in the series) by Jeanne Birdsall.

This series has become a go-to comfort read. My daughter and I originally read this when they were a kid, and I had to dive back into it when I was missing them and my wife. I forgot how brutal The Penderwicks in Spring is, with Batty (the youngest Penderwick sister) overhearing one of her older siblings say something terrible (it involves their mother, who died just after Batty was born) and then failing to communicate with anyone about it for a while. (I reread the third book in the series earlier this year, which is why I skipped it during my trip.)

No Room at the Morgue by Jean-Patrick Manchette

Most of Machette's short crime novels (translated from French) are excellent, and there are a few graphic novel adaptations by cartoonist Jacques Tardi available in English, too. This isn't my favorite of Manchette's novels, but I enjoyed it quite a bit; it involves a down-on-his-luck detective (he's a former policeman) and a beautiful woman. It felt much more like a classic Raymond Chandler story than Manchette's other books.

Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage. by Rob Delaney

The darkest parts of Delaney's autobiographical essays deal with his alcoholism and its consequences, but they still make me laugh out loud. I think I've read this book three or four times now. (This means I'm soon going to have to rewatch his TV series Catastrophe again in its entirety.)

Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks.

After discovering Banks's Culture series in Kathmandu in 1999 -- it's my favorite science fiction series -- I was nostalgic for it during my recent trip to Nepal. I picked up a dusty copy in a used bookstore there, a throwback to the good old days when I had to dig though piles of paperbacks I had never heard of to find something interesting. (Now most books in the stores there are new, in plastic bags, well-organized, and almost as expensive as they'd be here.)

This book (the third in the series) is as good as I remember. It's concerned with war and soldiering and those with a natural talent for both. Rereading it I started to have the sense that I'd hated the ending when I first read it. And I was right, those last few pages suck, but I loved it right up until then. I tell you this only so you can stop reading it if you have that feeling, too.

Fails:

Maigret and the Tramp by Georges Simenon.

I've tried to read several Maigret books, but despite my love for short mysteries I haven't really enjoyed any of them. I forced myself to finish this one. I'm still not sure why they're so popular. (If you know which one of these I should start with, please tell me which that is. I have one more on my shelf, but I'll probably give it away.)

The Dog of the South by Charles Portis.

True Grit is such a great book I thought I'd read Portis's other four novels on my trip. I brought along the Library of America collection that contains them all. But reading this was like reading a well-composed joke that didn't make me laugh; I could see why it would be funny to someone, but I didn't care. I set the book aside for later.

[a-hundred-jewels]

What are your thoughts on Jane and Jeffry as a couple? I read a fic on ao3 that paired them together and I kind of really liked it!!

hi sorry it took me literally forever to respond to this!!! i assume you're talking about "you are in love" by @izzielizzie? i absolutely love that fic! I htink im behind a chapter bc of school stuff and scatterbrain but i extremely look forward to catching up!

in terms of jane and jeffrey as a couple, i really like them! tbh when i was reading in spring with my mum i distinctly remember asking her "why can't jeffrey just fall in love with jane instead, wouldn't that be more convenient?" and then my poor mother trying to explain romantic feelings to a ten year old. i think that jane and jeffrey would be such chaos honestly, like they would be so good for each other in the worst way for everyone around them.

the more i think about it the better it is... shit i may be adding to my (gazillion) wips...

my actual favourite jane otp still remains her with rachel dare (from percy jackson), a ship that makes almost no sense but that i love and have devoted approximately 70k words of fic to (only some of which i've gotten around to posting thus far). jane and jeffrey is much more reasonable... penderwickians, we've been sleeping on gold, it's time to revere @izzielizzie as the wisdomous prophet they are

anyway, thank you for the ask! love a good penderwicks rant as always :3

[francesderwent]

magpie-trove said: OH OH IS CHILDRENS BOOK. IS IT PENDERWICKS? IS IT BATTY AND JEFFERY? OR JEFFERY AND SOMEONE?

it IS Jeffrey and Batty!!!!! the revelation of them in Penderwicks At Last was life-changing.

(their defining moment is without a doubt when he’s flown all the way from Germany [skipping out on a gig!] to rescue her from his mother and sees her through the window wearing Rosy’s wedding dress and starts to move closer like he’s being pulled and she turns and sees him and they��re both just standing staring at each other in equal confusion and then she opens her arms and smiles at him like the first day of spring. the song for that moment is both Labyrinth and Snow on the Beach)

[foxgloveinspace]

39, 35, 21, 14, 13, 12!

39. sweetheart - favorite mug/cup?

My yeti mug! I got the limited edition green one from fall 2021, i got it with my bday money that year, and I use it legitimately every day! I have my morning coffee in it. I reccomend yeti mugs tbh, even without a lid on them they keep your coffee hot way way longer (or tea!)

35. watermelon - do films ever make you cry?

hmmm, it takes a LOT to make me cry tbh. I watched The Boy and The Beast without shedding tears, oof. I do cry sometimes to films, i cried in the theater when Tony died, but I feel ok about that one cause the teenage guy cried next to me, lol. It depends on what happens I guess, and how I'm feeling in the moment. I cry easier to movies then I do to music! And my tear ducts turn off when I read, lol. (only two books have made me cry, when i was a kid it was the Warriors book where Firestars friend left for the water clan (don't remember their names very well) and then a couple years ago when I was reading the Fae King (highly highly recommend that duology.)

21.paper - favorite children’s book?

hmmmm, this is hard, I have always been a bookworm. Probably the Penderwicks though. I actually recently reread the first spiderwick chronicles book though! And I really enjoyed it lol.

14. buttery - favorite snack?

snack cakes lol. twinkies, and ho-hos, and snowballs and ZEBRA CAKES <3<3<3

13. sunkissed - autumn or spring?

autumn!! no doubt! I don't like bugs, and i love cooler weather.

12. dimples - most attractive features of a person’s face?

hmmm. I don't know?? I like mouths a lot, I think I notice them first the most.

[afaroffsong]

Thank you for the tag, my dear birb! <3

1. Three non-romantic duos: Eliot and Hardison from Leverage, Batty Penderwick and Hound from The Penderwicks, and Teasel and Burr from @thegreenleavesofspring's Christmas story for me, River Adventure. ^_^

2. A ship that might surprise others: Bunty II. (Does anyone else know what this is from? XD)

3. Last song: Deserve by Jess Ray.

4. Last film: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

5. Currently reading: The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall

6. Currently watching: All Creatures Great and Small (2020) with my mom (her favourite show of all time).

7. Currently consuming: I accidentally got some lip balm in my mouth and I can still taste it?

8. Currently craving: Not food. Or a drink of any kind. But I would love something sweet and small to cuddle.

I haven't played tag games in so long I forget which mutuals I usually tag... @lady-merian @ladyphlogiston @lady-stormbraver @sweetcardamom @muse-write

@rosie-cotton @onewingedsparrow @winterinhimring

9 people you'd like to know better

Done this one recently, so I'm changing the questions up. Thanks for the tag @authortobenamedlater.

1. Three non-romantic duos: Anakin & Rex, Nancy & Peggy, Christina & Melanie

2. A ship that might surprise others: Ben/Rey. Except not the way it's done in the movies.😅 There's a bunch of AU versions I've seen in fanart that made me start liking them, and now I have my own AU for them.

3. Last song: 'The Force Theme' by Samuel Kim.

4. Last film: Revenge of the Sith last night with my big brother.

5. Currently reading: lots of SW fanfic, Jedi Trial by David Sherman and Dan Cragg

6. Currently watching: Loki w my sister, Book of Boba Fett w a friend

7. Currently consuming: last thing I ate was a bowl of granola for breakfast

8. Currently craving: to turn my phone off and concentrate on writing for a solid hour. I have a fic to finish.

Tagging @dont-do-rice-babes @stargazer-luna @helloalyss @clawedandcute @kraytwriter @musewrangler @thefinaljediknight @sailforvalinor @ablatheringblatherskite

[the-arundel-renegades]

Tell me this isn’t Jeffrey thinking about Skye every day they didn’t talk, loving a girl who will always belong to the night sky, a girl who can’t love him because she thinks she needs to first soak up the universe, wondering if she missed him while she was looking for herself out there. 

“But tell me, did you sail across the sun?

Did you make it to the Milky Way? 

To see the lights all faded 

And that heaven is overrated

Tell me

Did you fall from a shooting star? 

One without a permanent scar?

And did you miss me while you were

Looking for yourself out there?”

[viktorrotkiv]

This is the Penderwick house, according to the latitude/longitude readings in The Penderwicks in Spring!

[izzielizzie]

favorite sentence from each of the penderwick books? sorry- I know it’s hard :/

this is such a fun question i love it!! Some of these are two sentences for context:

The Penderwicks

"No, you stupid idiot, there's nothing wrong with you. You're perfect"

i love the way skye loves her sisters

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street

"Jane,' she said, climbing down from the chair. 'Remember last year when I built that model wind tower for you and you wrote those poems for me?'"

this is what kicked off the whole mess

The Penderwicks at Point Mouette

"What could happen to Jane in a half hour?"

i just think this is a very valid question in relation to jane penderwick and it amuses me

The Penderwicks in Spring

"'If you want to get out of that crib, stand up and be an American.'"

arguably the most un-batty-like thing batty has ever said it makes no sense and i love it

The Penderwicks at Last

"And away they went, the three together, prancing, leaping, gamboling into the future.”

such a perfect end to the series

[skye-penderwick]

Cause why not make insta posts for everyone’s joy in spring?

[hanchewie]

character aesthetics: nick geiger (requested by anon)

“No, no, none of that Sir stuff. Not while I’m on leave. Call me, I don’t know, how about Mr. Fabulous?”

– The Penderwicks in Spring, by Jeanne Birdsall

[isit-allover]

Who I relate to in The Penderwicks: Skye

Why: YOUR MOTHER DID WHAT? SQUARE TF UP BITCH

Who I relate to in The Penderwicks on Gardam Street: Skye

Why: I don’t like this school project, so I’m going to create this elaborate plan to not do it, which will most likely blow up in my face.

Who I relate to in The Penderwicks at Point Mouette: Skye

Why: Holy shit responsibility is hard.

Who I relate to in The Penderwicks in Spring: Lydia

Why: Someone’s having a major life event? Fuck that, I want ice cream.

Who I relate to in The Penderwicks at Last: Mr. Penderwick

Why: HOLY SHIT THEY’RE GROWING UP SO FAST WHAT HAPPENED TO SKYE BEING 12