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Yes, it is February. But, now I at last sit down at my desk to plan the what-comes-next for Imagination Celebrations. 
The new year has started wonderfully and full of new opportunities and events. We were able to host quite a few terrific birthdays for some very terrific kids. I was also invited to many pre-schools and libraries for the Story Time Explosion program. The past few months I have jumped in to snowy stories, pirate stories, tropical stories, and more!
So, what is new for the New year? Well, coming very soon we will be giving our website a little makeover- which includes a brand new structuring of our party themes! I have also started compiling albums on phanfare, where you can actually SEE what we do. (I’ll post some links later!) The new year also brings new themes like Space Camp and Fabulously Fancy.In April, we will even have a chance to do an adult murder mystery party- So fun!
And for the blog…..hopefully my weekly book review will become more than a-one-time-thing. More on that to come.
In the mean time, may I just say for a kid-lit lover how fabulous it is to live in Western Mass. If you don’t know what I am talking about watch this. (Notice all the lovely Northampton shots!)
Jenn, Imagination Celebrations
One of my favorite podcasts, Just one more Book! features my viewer submitted review of the Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall. I love JOMB and so many of the books I choose to read come from there- so you should check it out!
Also, if you can’t understand my reading, or would prefer to see my review in written form here it is:
My favorite books as a child were the Little House in the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I also desperately wanted to get into as much trouble as my friend Anne of Green Gables.
However, lately my adventures in chapter books have been a bit abstract to say the least. They usually star children with unique powers or mystery, the villains so outlandish they make you laugh at times, and setting and scenery that I can in no way identify with but wholly enjoy all the same.
The Penderwicks is no such book. I was immediately curious by this little book, when I ran across it at my favorite book store donning a “local author” sticker, I learned that Ms. Birdsall was in fact a Western Mass girl like me, and was excited to read her “national book award” winner.
Ah, what a book from my past. The main characters are the Penderwick sisters who are each unique and interesting. There is Batty, the youngest Penderwick who is four, goes no where with out her butterfly wings. She is infatuated with two bunnies that live with the gardener, Cagney. Her most faithful friend is their large dog who is always getting out of his pen, Hound. Jane is the next youngest, and a child I can identify with for sure. She is a passionate, dare I say dramatic ten year old “author” who is constantly working on her “Sabrina Starr” series of books. Skye, who is eleven is excellent at math, tends to get herself in trouble with her words often, and looks the most like their mother who passed away. Rosalind is the eldest sister at twelve who is shockingly practical for her age. You see her caring and baking for her sisters and father in a very maternal way. She also becomes infatuated with someone over the summer- and its not the bunnies. Her ideas of love resonate with the inner pre-teen in me, and I cringe and squirm as she encounters her first heart break.
The story takes place at a little vacation home rented by the ever kind and understanding Mr. Penderwick as a fun filled summer escape for the family. However, the cottage is owned by a particularly difficult woman who happens to have a little boy who becomes quite good friends of the sisters.
I would recommend this timeless book. So much happens from heroic escapes from bulls, to true friendships being built. But, there is something about the characters and the settings that evoke such happy memories in the reader. You can smell the sun screen in the air, your feet haven’t worn shoes since spring, school feels years away, and there is nothing but the hot sun, friends and your family.
Jenn, Imagination Celebrations
