The Penderwicks on Gardam Street

Skye is the second-oldest Penderwick sister. The 11-year-old is the only one of Lizzy’s children to inherit her “blond hair and blue eyes” (2), and she is filled with pride when Martin tells her that she inherited Lizzy’s stubbornness as well. Skye exercises her strong willpower throughout the novel, particularly when she resolves to face her greatest fear, stage fright, rather than invent a lie that will excuse her from the production: “Her fate was sealed, and from that moment her determination to go through with the play wouldn’t waver” (234). Intelligent and pragmatic, Skye loves mathematics and abhors emotional displays. Her aspiration to become an astrophysicist contributes to her bond with Iantha, whom she greatly admires. In addition, Skye demonstrates increased self-awareness in this sequel by actively working on her shortcomings, such as her short temper.

Skye’s personal growth advances the theme of The Importance of Honesty and Loyalty. She compromises the cherished “Penderwick Family Honor” by taking credit for the play Jane writes (73). Skye’s fear of being cast in the play’s lead role and her eventual confession to her family emphasize the virtue of telling the truth. In addition, Skye makes strides towards controlling her own emotions and handling others’ feelings with greater care. Birdsall illustrates the character’s progress through her soccer matches. In Chapter 4, appropriately titled “Tempers Lost,” Skye unleashes her fury upon the opposing team for picking on Jane: “‘The referee told me this league has never had a brawl of that magnitude,’ said Mr. Penderwick after a long, painful silence” (48). In the final match of the season, Skye not only “calmly captained her team to perfection” but also comforts her distraught rival instead of fighting her (268). Over the course of the novel, Skye learns valuable lessons about telling the truth, managing her emotions, and treating others with empathy, indicating that she is growing up.

Jane is the second youngest of the Penderwick sisters. She dreams of being an author, and this goal is reflected in her bookish, imaginative personality. She believes in magic, as evidenced by her attempts to summon Aslan in Chapter 5, which shows that she retains a childlike sense of wonder even though she is 10 years old. At times, Jane becomes carried away with her vibrant inner world and doesn’t adequately distinguish fiction from reality. For example, she turns in an essay about a heroine she created named Sabrina Starr when she was asked to write about a historical woman, and yet is shocked when she receives a C on the assignment. Because of her love of storytelling, Jane speaks formally and dramatically as if she were a character in one of her tales. Her dialogue contributes to the story’s humor, such as when her grade on the aforementioned essay leads her to lament, “I have no profession now. I’ll have to be a vagrant” (15). In addition to her creativity, one of Jane’s greatest strengths is her generous spirit. She is sensitive to others’ feelings and repeatedly puts them ahead of her own, such as when she allows Skye to visit Jeffrey in Boston even though she won the name-drawing.

Jane gives the novel the subplot about Sisters and Sacrifice, and the play serves as a motif of The Importance of Honesty and Loyalty. She feels as though she “sullied the family honor” by exchanging assignments with Skye and resolves to be more truthful in the future (253). In addition, Jane models stalwart loyalty by helping her sister rehearse for the production and by refusing to let Skye take all the blame for their deception. Birdsall’s novel offers moral lessons for young readers not only by depicting the consequences of the characters’ mistakes but also by rewarding their good deeds. For Jane, the reward for her hard work and selflessness is the opportunity to play the lead role in the play she wrote: “They adored her! If only it could go on forever!” (247). Jane’s experiences with her play affirm her passion for writing, present opportunities to show her loyalty to Skye, and teach her the importance of honesty.

Batty is the youngest of the Penderwicks. Following her transformative experiences in the series’s first novel, the four-year-old is less timid in the sequel. With the faithful Hound by her side, the exuberant Batty confidently embarks on several adventures, including “her first spying mission away from Gardam Street” (195). Her new outgoing temperament also helps her to befriend Iantha and her young son, Ben. Although Batty is the youngest of the siblings, she notices important things that escape her older sisters’ detection. For example, her siblings dismiss her instinctive suspicions about the Bug Man, but her vigilance is vindicated when Norman tries to steal Iantha’s laptop: “[N]o matter what anyone else said, she did know one thing: That stranger had not been a nice man” (103). By giving Batty a strong sense of intuition, Birdsall ensures that each of the sisters has her own unique strengths and forms of intelligence.

Of all the Penderwicks, Batty most readily embraces the challenge of Learning to Love Again After Loss. This is partly because she lost her mother when she was only a few weeks old, making her the only one of her siblings to have no memories of Lizzy apart from her family members’ anecdotes. Batty’s intuition promotes the theme and provides foreshadowing, such as when she declares, “Daddy should date the lady next door, and then I could play with her baby” (76). Batty is the first of the sisters to bond with Iantha and thus helps her older siblings grow closer to the woman who becomes their new mother.

Martin Penderwick is the girls’ father. An example of the absentminded professor archetype, the botanist teaches at a university, has a habit of expressing himself in Latin, and is constantly misplacing his glasses. Martin is deeply beloved by his daughters because of his kind and gentle personality. He’s also a highly principled man, and the thought of him lying is so unimaginable to his children that they never consider the possibility that Marianne is fictitious. Another of Martin’s defining qualities is his introversion. Before her death, Lizzy knew that he was “too shy to start dating without encouragement” (5), prompting her to write the letter that sets the novel’s plot into motion.

Over the course of the novel, Martin learns to be more honest about his feelings and gains a second chance at romance. The majority of the character’s dynamic growth stems from his journey towards learning to love again. For much of the story, he feels trapped between his feeling that he isn’t “ready to start dating for real again” and his guilt that he “wasn’t doing what [the girls’] mother asked of [him]” (261). Birdsall portrays Martin as a loving parent, but the strain of this dilemma creates distance and secrecy in his usually close relationships with his daughters: “Skye was almost sure he blushed, but before she could look closely enough to be positive, he was running out of the house […] His three daughters, who couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone away without hugs, stared forlornly at the door after it shut behind him” (135). Like his three oldest daughters, Martin demonstrates the importance of honesty through his guilt at his deception, and the family’s closeness is restored when he tells the truth about Marianne. Birdsall brings the theme of learning to love again and the novel itself to a happy conclusion when Martin weds Iantha and finds “the pure and solid happiness that he’d longed for and deserved” (303).