The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy

Jeffrey arrives the following day to invite the sisters over for Churchie’s gingerbread and is happy to report that Teddy injured himself by tripping on a rake and won’t be returning. Cagney is affixing a secret rope ladder to the tree for quick exits from Jeffrey’s room. Churchie is delighted to see all the sisters and dotes on them as they devour her delicious gingerbread. Harry the tomato man arrives with a delivery and jokes with Jeffrey about his escapades with the sisters, saying, “[Y]ou Penderwicks are sure livening the old place up” (83). Churchie invites the sisters to Jeffrey’s 11th birthday party, but he immediately protests, asserting that they wouldn’t want to come to the formal affair. He adds that Dexter Dupree—Mrs. Tifton’s love interest—will be there, which intrigues Skye, but Harry says the girls would need fancy dresses, and Rosalind says they didn’t bring any. Churchie claims that the dresses are no problem and takes the girls and Jeffrey into Arundel’s expansive attic which is full of all sorts of interesting artifacts and clothing. As they sort through Mrs. Tifton’s discarded clothing, Churchie tells Rosalind the family’s backstory. The Framleys were a wealthy family, and Brenda Tifton was a spoiled child. Mrs. Framley died when Brenda was 17, and General Framley deeply grieved for a long time. Brenda left for college and eloped with a man, but the marriage didn’t last. She returned home pregnant with Jeffrey and changed her name to Tifton to disguise her socially unacceptable divorce. General Framley loved Jeffrey like a son but died when he was only seven. Jeffrey has never met his real father, a fact that makes the girls sad.

Churchie finds dresses for each of the girls and plans to alter them to fit properly. Jeffrey and Jane excitedly find a bow-and-arrow set and swords, and Batty finds a wooden rabbit she names Yaz. In addition, they find footwear for everyone but Batty. Rosalind later convenes MOPS to tell Jeffrey’s story to Skye and Jane. They agree not to ask him questions about his father and find him good birthday presents. The sisters are sad that they lost their mother but can’t imagine never knowing their parents.

In the seven days before Jeffrey’s birthday party, he takes the sisters all over Arundel’s property, showing them secret hiding places and avoiding Mrs. Tifton. Batty is content sleeping with Hound each night and making daily visits to feed Cagney’s rabbits. Jane, Skye, and Jeffrey have soccer practice each day, and Rosalind enjoys visiting with Cagney when he comes to water the rosebush.

On the day of the party, the girls dress, and Mr. Penderwick takes their photograph with Hound. Skye’s shoes are slightly damp because Hound threw up on them earlier that day. The girls hide Jeffrey’s presents in the gazebo during the party because they want to give them to him when his mother isn’t around. Cagney answers the door at Arundel, and Rosalind blushes when he tells them they all look nice. Churchie welcomes them into the kitchen, where Harry is eating rolls. The girls walk carefully in a line into the formal dining room, where Jeffrey sits with his mother and the handsome Dexter Dupree. Jeffrey is wearing a heavy golf bag around his shoulder and looks miserable until he sees the girls. Mrs. Tifton icily stares at them, and they feel like she’s inspecting every part of them as Jeffrey introduces each sister. The luncheon proceeds awkwardly. Batty keeps trying to hide under the table, and Rosalind worries that Jane or Skye will say something inappropriate. Dexter belongs to a fancy country club, and Jeffrey will be taking lessons there with his new golf clubs but doesn’t seem excited. Mr. Dupree is snobbish and tells Rosalind that the dining room’s hand-painted ceiling “cost a fortune” (107). The strange paintings of dead relatives adorning the walls distract Rosalind from the conversation. Pointing to her father’s painting, Mrs. Tifton says that Jeffrey looks just like his grandfather General Framley.

When Churchie comes in to serve the food, her presence briefly comforts the girls. Mrs. Tifton feigns interest and asks each girl to tell something about herself. Jane says she plays soccer and authors novels. Dexter says he can help her, but Rosalind knows it’s an empty promise. Dexter’s guess that Skye wants to be a fashion model angers her. Talk turns to their career aspirations, and each girl shares what they want to be when they grow up. Skye wants to be a mathematician, and Jane wants to be a writer. Mr. Penderwick thinks Rosalind will be good at international diplomacy, and Batty wants to be a vet. Skye missteps and starts to say Jeffrey wants to be a musician, but he kicks her under the table. Mrs. Tifton explains that Jeffrey will follow in his late grandfather’s footsteps: After attending a military school, he’ll enroll in West Point and become a soldier.

Jeffrey thinks his party was the worst ever, but the sisters cheer him up by giving him his presents. Rosalind and Jane give him a book, Skye gives him a camouflage hat like hers, and Batty gives him her favorite framed photo of Hound. They hear Mrs. Tifton and Dexter kissing and dancing to a waltz on the veranda. The children overhear Mrs. Tifton saying she doesn’t like Jeffrey hanging out with the Penderwick sisters, whom she views as “a little vulgar” (117). Dexter tells her not to worry because the girls are leaving soon. He wants to marry Mrs. Tifton and take her on a lavish honeymoon in Paris. Mrs. Tifton worries about the effect on Jeffrey, but Dexter suggests that they send him to military school a year sooner than they’d planned. Jeffrey is both embarrassed and upset by what he overhears, and the sisters are angered to hear their family disparaged. Jeffrey storms off without taking his presents.

Jane works on her novel in her room, adding details like Ms. Horriferous keeping Arthur locked in a prison and Sabrina Starr planning a dramatic rescue in her hot-air balloon. Jane feels upset about what happened after the party and tries to talk to Skye, but she kicks Jane out of her room. Finding Rosalind still awake, Jane asks her if there’s any way they can help Jeffrey, like adopting him. Rosalind seems preoccupied and tells Jane not to worry. Jane wants to ask Dexter to help with her novel but worries that Jeffrey will feel betrayed. Rosalind tells her that Dexter was insincere, but Jane later wonders if he has two sides, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and that deep down he’s a nice person.

Batty wants to visit Cagney’s rabbits, but Rosalind is making brownies for Cagney and reading a book about the Civil War, so she can talk to him about his interests. Jane and Skye are busy making a target for shooting with the bow and arrows they found in the attic. Dejected, Batty goes to Cagney’s cottage alone. She carefully opens the cage’s screen door, remembering what Cagney said about what could happen if the rabbits got loose. As she’s feeding them carrots, she hears the familiar tap of Mrs. Tifton’s shoes as she appears in the cottage with Dexter. Mrs. Tifton angrily commands her—“Bitty or whatever your name is” (129)—to go home. Batty is frozen with fear and forgets to close the cage door. Yaz bolts from the cage and out the door of the cottage, and Batty chases after him as Dexter and Mrs. Tifton watch in confusion.

Rosalind realizes that Batty is missing and begins looking for her. When she passes by the pond, it reminds her of Ophelia in Hamlet and how much her mother loved Shakespeare. She picks a lily to put in her hair but sees Mrs. Tifton and Dexter approaching. Mrs. Tifton is angry at Rosalind for tramping around her gardens and picking her flowers. When Mrs. Tifton mentions seeing Batty in Cagney’s cottage, Rosalind knows there’s trouble and runs for the cottage. Batty is gone, and so is Yaz.

During target practice, Jane plots a way to incorporate archery into her Sabrina story. Hound becomes agitated in his cage and begins to bark. As Jane checks on him, he leaps over the fence and takes off for the pond. Jane follows, but “[i]t had long ago been proved that Hound could not be caught by one Penderwick sister alone. It took at least two, and three was better, especially if one of them was Batty” (137). Jane finds Jeffrey’s mother patrolling the grounds, preparing for the Garden Club competition, so he and Rosalind formulate a plan to block Hound from running into the gardens. Skye joins the effort and searches the gardens, trying to plug any escape route. Rosalind finds Yaz hiding in the shrubs, but Hound bounds through the bushes and scares Yaz away toward the pond. Jeffrey, Rosalind, Skye, and Jane run wildly through the gardens trying to catch Yaz just as Mrs. Tifton appears. Hound chases Yaz into the pond and catches the rabbit in his mouth. Jane screams and Rosalind cries as they all fear the worst. Mrs. Tifton is furious that she didn’t know about Hound; she says she’ll be speaking to Mr. Penderwick and orders Jeffrey to return home. He asks if he can stay to help get Hound back to his cage, and Mrs. Tifton stomps away. Just as they’re about to bury Yaz, they realize that he’s unharmed. Hound is a hero for catching the lost rabbit, but the dog won’t move when they try to take him back to his fenced area. They then realize that Batty is missing.

Feeling guilty over losing Yaz, Batty decides to go home to Cameron. She walks until she sees a road and decides not to cross since her father wouldn’t approve. Meanwhile back at Arundel, Jeffrey suggests they use Hound to track Batty. After getting her scent from her stuffed elephant, Hound takes off through the shrubbery tunnel. Just as Batty considers quitting and returning to Arundel, she hears Hound’s familiar bark. Batty and Hound embrace as her sisters run toward her. Fearing that they’re angry with her for losing Yaz, Batty tries to run for the road with Hound, but he won’t budge. Batty lunges toward the road just as a car approaches, and Jeffrey jumps out and pulls her to safety.

Later, over dinner, the sisters relate the harrowing tale to Mr. Penderwick while Hound eats a steak dinner as his reward. Mr. Penderwick says Mrs. Tifton called him and explained what happened in the gardens. She thinks he doesn’t exert enough discipline on the girls and feels they’re a bad influence on Jeffrey. Mr. Penderwick responded to her impolitely in Latin but agreed she might be right. The sisters tell him about Mrs. Tifton’s rude boyfriend Dexter and claim that he and Mrs. Tifton are the ones who lack manners. Mr. Penderwick says Jeffrey is a part of their family forever since he saved Batty’s life, to which Batty responds that she could marry him. Everyone gets a good laugh, but Mr. Penderwick reminds the girls that they must behave when they’re around Mrs. Tifton no matter what they think of her character.

In the days leading up to the Garden Club competition, the Penderwicks stay clear of the Arundel gardens and lock Hound inside the cottage. A wealthy Englishman named Sir Barnaby Patterne will be in attendance, which makes Mrs. Tifton more anxious. Jeffrey has his first golf lesson and hates it. He visits the cottage and brings the pamphlet for Pencey Military Academy. Skye reads from it, realizing that it offers no music classes and emphasizes physical performance in preparation for becoming a soldier. Batty sees Jeffrey’s dejection and gives him an empathetic pat as she leaves with Rosalind to collect dandelion greens for the rabbits. Rosalind repeatedly reminds the other children to stay away from the hedge tunnel because today is the Garden Club competition.

Skye, Jane, and Jeffrey begin soccer practice. Jeffrey has nicknamed his ball “Dexter,” and Skye nicknames hers “Pencey Military Academy.” The game becomes intense as the children take out their frustrations on the soccer balls. Jane invokes her alter ego, “Mick Hart,” who helps her play more intensely. They begin playfully calling each other names as the competition intensifies. Jane calls Skye a “silly git” (160), and they chase one another, executing fierce soccer maneuvers. Jane and Skye both kick their balls over the hedge into the gardens, and the children thoughtlessly run through the hedge tunnel after the lost balls. The balls crash into an urn full of jasmine and dirt splatters everywhere. The Garden Club guests stop milling about and gather to watch the children. Mrs. Tifton remains calm in front of her guests but is clearly furious. One guest laughs and relates a story about his son, who plays soccer in England, and Jane asks him if he’s ever seen the World Cup. The man asks Mrs. Tifton if the children are hers, which makes her angrier. Jeffrey introduces them as his friends, and the children offer to clean up the mess. Sir Barnaby is nearby but doesn’t hear the exchange, and Jane thinks he looks like a nice man. The children quickly exit, worrying that Mrs. Tifton will harshly punish Jeffrey.

Later, as Batty collects fireflies, Jane and Skye sit with Rosalind on the porch and discuss the travesty. Rosalind has a tingly feeling down her neck and realizes that Cagney is walking toward them. He brings word from Jeffrey that his mother confined him to his room, but he’s okay. Jane wonders if Mrs. Tifton has him “on bread and water […] but Cagney says, “No, Churchie’s got him on hamburgers, corn on the cob, and blueberry pie” (168). To apologize for losing Yaz, Batty gives Cagney the dandelion greens she collected for the rabbits and a book of Civil War photography that Rosalind purchased with all her allowance. Her generosity moves Cagney, and he immediately begins reading the book.

Skye and Jane use the rope ladder to climb up to Jeffrey’s room. He’s mournfully playing his piano when they call him to the window, and Jane resolves to add this to her novel. After the garden party, Arundel won second place and Mrs. Tifton yelled at Jeffrey that he doesn’t care about her. She and Dexter will be discussing important decisions in the coming days, and Jeffrey worries that these decisions will be about his going to Pencey. Skye and Jane leave after agreeing to meet Jeffrey at the cottage the next day.