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

Skye and Batty don’t immediately tell Rosalind what happened with Mrs. Tifton, but she can tell from Batty’s swollen eyes that something’s wrong. Rosalind tells Batty her favorite bedtime story about the time Uncle Gordon and Mrs. Penderwick made a bobsled with a mattress and rode it down the stairs. Batty falls asleep before Rosalind finishes the story, so she goes to check on Jane, whose fever is down. From her room, Rosalind looks at the moon, thinking back over their time at Arundel but mostly about Cagney. Skye comes in and asks Rosalind if she ever lost control and she reminds Skye about when she yelled at her about the cookies. Skye tells her all the terrible things Mrs. Tifton said about each sister and their mother. Rosalind reassures Skye that she was right to defend their family, but hearing what Mrs. Tifton said about her is distressing, and she buries her head and asks Skye to leave.

After wallowing for two hours, Rosalind walks in Arundel’s gardens one last time because they’re leaving in three days. She wonders what it means to be in love and thinks about what it would be like to kiss Cagney. Rosalind twirls and dances, relishing in the freedom of the moonlight and the feeling that she’s spiting Mrs. Tifton by secretly being in her garden. She hears giggling and hides near a rock at the lily pond. Cagney is there with a red-haired girl, and they’re kissing. They hear Rosalind moving, and as she tries to hide, she slips on the rock, hits her head, and falls into the pond. Cagney races to help her, and Rosalind groggily quotes Ophelia from Hamlet. She begs Cagney not to tell her father, but he insists on carrying her home. Cagney introduces her to his girlfriend, Kathleen, but Rosalind is so embarrassed that she just buries her head in his shoulder and quietly cries.

Rosalind only tells her father that she took a walk and fell. He finds it strange that his daughters keep returning home soaking wet. He asks her, “If your mother were alive, would there be anything about last night too shameful to explain to her?” (205). Rosalind says no, and both wish that Mrs. Penderwick were there to help. Skye barges in, demanding to know what happened to Rosalind’s head, but she refuses to talk about it. Jane has finished her book, and Mr. Penderwick lets her use his computer to type the final draft. Churchie calls and tells Rosalind that Mrs. Tifton and Dexter have taken Jeffrey to Pennsylvania. He specifically wanted Skye to know it wasn’t her fault. The sisters explain Pencey Academy to Mr. Penderwick, which leads them to tell Jeffrey’s backstory and what happened between Skye and Mrs. Tifton. The sisters worry about Jeffrey and ask their father if there’s any way they can help him, but he insists that Mrs. Tifton must know what’s best for her son. They share instances in which Mr. Penderwick made them do things they didn’t want to, like making Skye a bridesmaid.

Skye feels guilty about Jeffrey and stations herself near the rose arbor to watch over Arundel, hoping for his return. She works on her math lessons to distract herself, but working on the problems brings her no comfort because she has visions of Jeffrey being miserable and lonely at Pencey. Jane arrives with her newly printed book in hand and sends Skye home for dinner. Jane distracts herself by reading Magic by the Lake, about a girl who’s rescued from an oil jar in a cave by a genie, but she’s distracted by admiring her own creation, “SABRINA STARR RESCUES A BOY” (213). Mrs. Tifton’s car arrives, and Jane is ecstatic to see that Jeffrey is with them. Jane still thinks there’s a nice side to Mr. Dupree, and after arguing with herself, she approaches him and asks if he’ll read her finished book. Dexter annoyingly flips through the book quickly and tells her that it’s terrible.

Jane locks herself in the attic room and tears her book apart chapter by chapter. Skye shouts under the door that they plan to use the ladder to climb into Jeffrey’s room later, but Jane tells her to go away. Mr. Penderwick comes in and sees the shredded book, and Jane tells him what Dexter said. Mr. Penderwick tells Jane she’s an excellent writer and that Dexter is a publisher of a magazine and doesn’t know anything about books. Jane feels better and agrees to print the book again and keep it forever.

Skye is in her room and can hear that her father is listening to opera, which their mother loved, and she knows he must be missing her. Jeffrey shoots a rubber-tipped arrow through her room, and she goes down to meet him. His visit to Pencey was awful, and he plans to run away. Skye takes him inside and calls an emergency MOOPS meeting, but Batty and Hound soon join, so it’s a MOPS meeting instead. Jeffrey relates the entire story about his visit to Pencey. It included an interview during which he told the director that Pencey was the last place he wanted to be. The only part he enjoyed was watching To Kill a Mockingbird in his hotel room. Even though he told his mother that he didn’t want to go to Pencey, she insists that he’ll thrive with more discipline and by being away from “the wrong kind of people” (227). Jeffrey plans to spend the night at Harry’s tomato stand and take a bus to Boston to stay with Churchie’s daughter. He can attend public school and give music lessons to make money and sell his grandfather’s rare coins for a profit. More than anything, Jeffrey hopes that he might find his real father in Boston. Skye and Jane insist that one of them should accompany him, but Rosalind vetoes the idea. They agree to let Jeffrey stay in Batty’s bed overnight and help him get safely to the bus station the next morning. After everyone is settled in bed, Rosalind lies awake, worrying whether they made the right decision. Sometimes, it’s hard being the oldest and not having anyone in whom she can confide. Cagney came to visit her earlier, and she hid from him. She fears that she can never speak to him again: “She would have nothing but memories […] Memories and her bruise” (233). She falls asleep thinking she doesn’t care about Cagney anymore and will focus on her family and friends.

Batty awakens before everyone else, so she takes Hound downstairs for Cheerios and lets him outside. Mrs. Tifton approaches the cottage, looking flustered, but Hound blocks her way. Dexter trails Mrs. Tifton and smacks Hound, causing the dog to yelp as Batty locks them out of the house. Dexter reminds Mrs. Tifton that Batty can’t talk, but Batty shouts, and Mr. Penderwick comes downstairs. Batty tells him that Dexter hit Hound. Mrs. Tifton explains that Jeffrey is missing. Mr. Penderwick hasn’t seen him, but when he asks Batty, her reaction reveals the truth. He tells Mrs. Tifton to wait downstairs while he checks with the other girls. Upstairs, he questions the other sisters as Jeffrey emerges from Batty’s room. Despite Skye’s protests, Jeffrey says he’ll face his mother and plead his case against Pencey once more with his mother. Jane accompanies Jeffrey downstairs with Mr. Penderwick, and she’s moved to see how relieved Mrs. Tifton is to see her son safe. Jeffrey refuses to go home and tells his mother that he won’t attend Pencey because it’s not the right school for him. He loved his grandfather, but he’s different. Mrs. Tifton insists that her father knew what was best for Jeffrey, but he reminds her of the time her father threw her into the deep end of the water to teach her how to swim and she nearly drowned. Mrs. Tifton is visibly upset by the painful memory and demands that Dexter take her home. Jeffrey follows as Jane congratulates him for being so brave.

The Penderwicks spend the rest of the day packing their belongings in preparation to leave the next morning. Each sister selects a gift for Jeffrey—Rosalind makes him brownies, Jane leaves him a copy of her book, Skye makes him a new Dexter target for archery, and Batty gives him back the picture of Hound and also gives him a crayon drawing of the bull. Later, Skye sneaks over to Arundel, but the rope ladder is gone, and she can only see the light from Jeffrey’s room. All they can do is wait and hope he comes down to say goodbye.

The Penderwicks are sad that no one’s there to say goodbye except Harry with a bag of tomatoes. The girls are on the brink of tears, and Mr. Penderwick promises that they can send postcards to Churchie and Jeffrey. Once they’re on the road, Mr. Penderwick realizes that he forgot his glasses at the cottage, and the girls are happy to get one last chance to see Jeffrey. Rosalind stays in the car, while Skye and Jane check the shrub tunnel, and she’s surprised when Cagney knocks on the window. He asks about her head, and Rosalind fumbles for words. She thanks him for his and Kathleen’s help, but he says he and Kathleen are no longer together. Cagney tells Rosalind that she’s a good listener and will make a good partner for someone someday. He gifts her a rosebush to plant at home and has brought the rabbits for Batty to see one last time. Cagney kisses the top of Rosalind’s head, leaving her feeling tingly, and Batty says she looks funny: “Like you’re going to laugh and cry at the same time” (256).

Just as everyone loads into the car once again, they see Churchie running toward them with Jeffrey trailing behind. After everyone exchanges hugs, Jeffrey tells them that after a long talk with his mother, she agreed he doesn’t have to attend Pencey or West Point. He’ll enroll at the boarding school in Boston and attend the music conservatory once a week. Mrs. Tifton still plans to marry Dexter, but Jeffrey is fine with the compromise. Everyone congratulates him on the good news, and they agree to visit one another. As they drive away, Batty asks to do one last thing. She jumps from the car and gives Jeffrey her wings. When she returns to the car, she says she’s just letting him borrow them.