I have just finished The Penderwicks at Point Mouette, the third in the series. My daughter received these for her birthday, and she’s been passing them along to me as she finishes them. We’re both more than a little in love with the Penderwick girls.

There was a big brouhaha recently about dark issues in YA literature. And while I completely agree that kids — of all ages — need books that address the all-too-real issues of life, some of us also need a steady supply of reading material for our more sheltered and easily-frightened readers. We need more warm fuzzies, and The Penderwicks novels are exactly that.