Penny Dreadful

Really lovely and engaging story about a suddenly-changing life, when Penelope's family jumped the urban/rural divide, class/income, geographic region, and day-to-day lifestyle. The book is about friendship and community. Its characters are interesting, imperfect, and fundamentally good, and Down Betty in particular is a delight: I love it when children's books include older characters who aren't in the story as grandparents (just one of the many ways this novel casually embraces diversity). Worked well as a read-aloud, too--the 7-yr-old was hooked, and it's rare to find a non-fantasy novel that does that right now (The Penderwicks novels are exceptions, and indeed Penny Dreadful appropriately references those sisters along the way).

What if you were really bored with your life? What would you wish for?
Penelope Grey wishes for something—anything!—interesting to happen, and here’s what happened:
• Her father quits his job.
• Her family runs out of money.
• Her home becomes a pit of despair.
So Penelope makes another wish, and this time the Greys inherit a ramshackle old house in the middle of nowhere. Off they go, leaving the city and their problems behind them. Their new home is full of artists, tiny lions, unusual feasts, and true friends. Almost immediately, their lives are transformed. Penelope’s mother finds an unexpected job, her father discovers a hidden talent, and Penelope changes her name!
Penny’s new life feels too magical to be real, too real show more to be magic. And it may be too good to last . . . unless she can find a way to make magic work just one more time—if it even was magic. show less

This is a hard book to summarize because the beginning is so incredibly different from the rest of the book. It all goes together. The difference doesn't cause any jarring shifts for the reader, and circumstances in the opening make the rest of the book make sense, but this is not a book about a little rich girl who moves to the county, as the first couple chapters would have you believe. Yes, Penelope has grown up rich, but finances quickly deteriorate in the Grey household after her father leaves his job. As the whole family figures out how to live without a chef, a housekeeper, or even a steady income, this becomes a book about figuring out what is really important. Houses and furniture can be let go; your family (and your books!) show more you take with you. Once that family gets to Thrush Junction, however, this becomes a book about finding yourself, making friends, and feeling and helping others to feel welcome. It's about community.

But I didn't think any of this while I was reading. While reading Penny Dreadful, this was just a book about Penelope, who wanted to go out and experience life. She needed to become Penny instead, and in Thrush Junction, she finds just the right people to help her do just that.

Thrush Junction is populated with a bunch of oddballs, many of whom live at Whippoorwillows with the Greys. Penelope, who has never really had friends before, must come out of her shell, and Luella is the perfect girl to drag her out. As Penelope, now Penny, learns how to have and be a friend, Luella introduces her to the rest of their little town. There's Down-Betty who was in vaudeville, Duncan who might be allergic to EVERYTHING and so is barely allowed to eat anything, Kay who runs the town diner, Jasper who is Luella's other best friend, Twent who can't say his r's (and has two moms!), and a whole bunch of other folks. The whole thing reminded me of Because of Winn-Dixie, but with a buried treasure legend instead of a dog. It has a feel-good feeling throughout that is infectious, even though the Greys money worries are a constant hum in the background. Things can be a bit episodic, but that's because that's how summer is sometimes. It's all about the people that come and go and the fun things that you get to do together for one day.

It's great to see so much diversity in the characters. In addition to Twent's two moms, Luella and her family are black, there is a wide range of ages at Whippoorwillows (and not all the old folks are grandparents), non-traditional gender roles within otherwise traditional family units, and a character who is deaf (can't tell you which without a spoiler). And there are no big deals made about any of it. These are all simply people that Penny meets during her adventures in her new town, and it's great to see them represented in literature just because they exist in real life rather than to Teach a Lesson to readers about how Everyone's the Same on the Inside!

I should also add that Penny Dreadful is also peppered with drawings by Abigail Halpin. Rather than distracting from the text, as I often think in-text illustrations do in chapter books, they add to it. My ARC only has preliminary sketches, but from those, I can tell that they're going to be awesomely full of life and emotion. My favorite one is of Penny is straggling behind Luella and Jasper on the sidewalk with the most sour look on her face ever, though the drawing of Twent "wahwing" is a close second. :)

Book source: ARC picked up at ALA. show less

I really wanted to like this book. I liked Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains and Baxter the pig who wanted to be kosher. I really, really loved Any Which Wall. I even asked for a review copy of Penny, which I almost never do.

But it just didn't work. *sniff*

Penelope Grey is bored. She doesn't want to tell anyone because...well, she doesn't want to be a spoiled rich girl and she knows she has so much she shouldn't be bored but...she is. She has no friends, her parents work or socialize constantly, and she doesn't go to school, but has a tutor. So one day she puts a wish in the wishing well in the garden...and her dad quits his job. At first, Penelope thinks this might be, at least interesting, if not exactly what she was hoping for. But show more everything goes wrong. Pretty soon there's no money, no servants, her parents aren't talking to each other, and Penelope knows it's all her fault. Maybe another wish can set things right?

Suddenly, the whole family is moving to the country, to the tiny town of Thrush Junction where her mother has inherited a house...and, it turns out, a large group of rent-free tenants, not to mention some rather sizable debts incurred by rare llamas. Penelope gets a new name - Penny - a new friend, Luella, and a whole new world to explore. Will they be able to stay? Will Penny find the treasure? Will she make more friends?

The problem for me with this story was A. the characters never felt real and B. not enough happened. "Penelope's" life as a poor little rich girl felt exaggerated and unrealistic. She doesn't seem to ever leave the house, except for a few outings with a couple other girls (who I thought were nannies, until one of them is mentioned as having a sleepover). Why does Penelope have a tutor? Why doesn't she go to a private school? Her parents' sudden and complete helplessness in the face of money and practical issues felt wrong; how did her father run a company (however incompetently) without even the faintest idea of money? How does her family go from wealthy to complete poverty in only a couple weeks? Her mother throughout the book shows that she's had a capable and independent past, yet she seems to completely lose any practical abilities in the face of disaster.

Once we meet "Penny" I started getting drawn into the story. She felt more realistic and her struggles to fit in with kids who had very different backgrounds sounded real. However, I still kept waiting for something to happen. Money problems get worse, Penny and Luella hang about and meet some other kids, and then the treasure hunting expedition is crammed into the last few chapters. I wanted...more concrete action? Fewer side characters and more focus on the main characters, since I never felt like I got a really good handle on them, especially Luella.

Reading as an adult, and having grown up in and out of small towns, the happy happy feeling in Thrush Junction didn't work for me. The small towns I knew and lived in weren't...well, they weren't that happy. And there was a lot more alcohol around. And the acceptance of eccentrics...I guess maybe Ms. Snyder has had much better small town experiences than I have, that's all I can say.

So, those are the things that didn't work for me, the adult librarian reader. What about the intended audience, children? I don't honestly think this would have worked for me as an 8-12 year old either. I never did like eccentric characters and while I really liked small town adventure stories, I would have wanted more adventure, maybe some sneaking around at night at least, and a lot more funny bits. However, I do think there is an audience for this story. It's a good peaceful reading-in-the-summer-sun story. Kids who DO like eccentric characters with just a little hint of mystery will enjoy this story. Kids who want to fantasize about what it would be like to move to the country, who like stories about friendship and family, they will all enjoy this story.

Verdict: This story didn't work for me and I would probably have trouble booktalking it, but I'm still glad I purchased it for my library and it has circulated several times already. Probably those who like When You Reach Me (which didn't work for me either) would enjoy this one and it's a good summer reading story. Recommended for a core juvenile library collection.

ISBN: 9780375861994; Published September 28, 2010; Review copy provided by author; Purchased for my library show less

Just too implausible, though it does advice 'real people don't have lives like book characters' kind of thing. ?áCharming, and as a child I would have loved it... but now I'm feeling a little cynical. ?áAnd of course I'm concerned that the kids didn't take proper care when exploring a cave, and might inspire child readers to take real risks.

I did like the idea that, before Penelope had friends, she solved her boredom with books. ?áWhen she got tired of just reading, she started *doing.* ?áTaking a book from the shelf at random, letting it fall open, she then *did* what the children in the story were doing. ?áI wish I'd thought of that when I was a lonely child.

Penny Dreadful by Laurel Snyder is about Penelope Grey and her parents who go through some major life changing events. As the book opens, Penelope is living in a huge house in the center of The City where she is home schooled and looked after more by the servants than her ever busy parents. While she knows she has a good life, it's not a fulfilling one.

A wish for something exciting to happen coincides with a huge change in her life. It begins with her father, heir to the family business, and source of the family's income, announcing that he's quit his job at the family business. Without his large paycheck and the mother's love of shopping, they quickly run out of money and the house ends up looking like something from Horders.

Another show more wish changes things again, sending them to the country, to an inherited house being shared by numerous eccentric families. The move to the house is where the book picks up. Penelope makes friends and blossoms.

Penny Dreadful highlights the problems families can have and the importance of open dialogs between parents and children. Penny's parents want to protect her as they try to cope with their problems. Unfortunately this just makes things more stressful for Penny and everyone else. Penny, too, with her new friends, might even have the solution to her parents' problems.

The life at the new house isn't all about the financial woes. There are new friends and new adventures, including a treasure hunt in a cave. I liked getting to explore with Penny as she adjusts to her new home.

I found the book a quick and compelling read. show less

Sweet and fun. It's the kind of book I would have loved when I was a child, full of references to other books, with a bit of trouble and a lot of humor. The characters are quirky without being scary, there's enough backstory but not too much, and it's, well, wholesome. Sweet is the proper word, I think- but the sweet of raspberries, not the sweet of candy bars.