Penny Dreadful starts off as a typical “poor little rich girl” story. Penny has it all (materially) but she’s lonely and sheltered. She tries to break out of her boring, dreadful rut by acting out (or at least dreaming up) adventures that she has read about in her favorite books.
I love the fact that she’s a girl in a book who loves books. I have a feeling that she will appeal to many girls who are just like her — whether they think their lives are dreadful or not. I know I’d like her, because she loves the books I love: The Penderwicks, The Secret Garden, Anne (with an “e” of course!), Betsy and Tacy, Ramona, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle etc. etc. It might even give her wonderful ideas of new (old!) books to explore on her own.
Early in the story, her father suddenly loses it all, then her mother is named a beneficiary in a distant relative’s will, so they sell their big city apartment and move to the country. The house they inherit comes with quirky tenants (who don’t actually pay rent, and who can’t be evicted per the terms of the will). It might seem to some to be a different kind of dreadful, but Penny loves the slower pace of life that encourages her family to connect.
This book feels and reads like a classic children’s novel (much like the Penderwicks does), but I would be reading along immersed in the classic feel and be completely surprised by a contemporary detail. For example, one character has two moms (a fact which is not belabored, but simply mentioned), and many of the professionals in town are women: such as the pediatrician Dr. Sanchez and the two sisters who are attorneys (when they were just mentioned by title, I assumed that they were men, especially with the retro feel, thus I was surprised).
Other than Penny, who I adored, her cast of characters who help her have an adventurous summer include one of the tenants there, a fearless African American girl, a boy in town who is struggling to break free from overly overprotective parents (another very current theme), a girl who is hearing-impaired. I love the diversity of the cast, but they don’t seem at all contrived or used as a device.
This book and the entire cast warmed my heart. Penny Dreadful is the kind of book that a child of the 70’s like me will enjoy sharing with her daughter.
This was a Cybils nominee in the Middle Grade fiction category, fo which I was a panelist. Be sure to check in on the Cybils blog January 1st, when all the finalists in all the categories will be announced.
Jennifer Donovan enjoys finding adventures in the pages of a book as well. She is quite content with her life, although she might occasionally post dreadful thoughts on her blog, Snapshot.
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