First of all, before talking about characters or plot, I put here the books that did inspire the Penderwicks or at least parts of the novel.
From my own writing experience, I know that not each similarity is a copy, but a part of the reading memory. Birdsall mentions a lot of books in the series, and a lot of them are involved with textual allusions.
Here's a (for me a complete) literature list: you can always add with a comment
Inspiration for all books: Little Women series (4 books) and "Sarah, Plain and Tall" by Patricia MacLachlan (5 books) Narnia (5 books) and Emily of New Moon series (3 books) (all mentioned)
book 1:
the Enchanted Castle, The Secret Garden, The Bastables (also mentioned), The Treasure Seekers, (5 little Peppers - I read that there's a reference, but didn't read it), Half-Magic (I read that...), Peter Pan (mentioned), Jack and Jill (reference in what Uncle Gordon did), The Wizard of Oz (alluded), A series of unfortunate events (balloon, Quigley), as author mentioned: Patricia MacLachlan and L.M. Alcott
book 2: the Enchanted Castle is here mentioned, Emily of New Moon here mentioned (and Jane's friend Emily), Sense and Sensibility (duh), Half Magic (only mentioned), The Phantom Tollbooth (only mentioned), War and peace (only mentioned). As author: Eva Ibbotson ( Island of Aunts)
book 3: possible reference: Under the Lilacs (Alcott), Bilgewater by Jane Gardam (mentioned)
book 4: possible reference: Under the Lilacs, The Count of Monte Christo (French text --> Mercedes is described), The three musketeers (mentioned), the Dragonfly pool by Ibbotson(only mentioned)
book 5: possible reference: The enchanted Castle, Rose in Bloom (Alcott), Ballet Shoes (?), Pride and Prejudice, Peter Pan (again mentioned), Alice in Wonderland (mentioned), Anne of Green Gables (a quote?), Pollyanna (who else could be like Lydia?), The Secret Garden, The Treasure Seekers, and Heidi, The Wizard of Oz (Wicked, Red shoe?), Les Miserables (only mentioned), Fairy Dust by G. Carson Levine (that is just an idea,?), Disney Sleeping Beauty (?), aaaaaaaaaaand Hamilton (musical)?
Please note that I don't know enough literature to compare. Since it's such a big mixture, it's impossible to say which sister is which Little Woman. And think about that authors have to use tropes or somehow the books they know and their life experiences, but Birdsall enjoys marking her references (directly or indirectly)!
So, let's start!
Mostly is talked about Little Women, but less about the whole series, with Little Men and Jo's Boys. I'm referring to LW part II as Good wives (as offen used title).
The name of Penderwicks could be based on the Pickwick club from Little Women.
The series is:
Little Women
Little Women, Part II: Good wives
Little Men ( next generation at Plumfield)
Jo's Boys (Little Men growing up)
Let's start with Little Women!
I don't think that a simple comparison between the four sisters is NOT possible!
Book 1:
Batty: -Amy - the mispronounciations, the vampire play (word by Amy) and being called goose, youngest sister and loves horses.
-Beth- name, Mouse, shyness, love for animals, feeding Yaz and Carla could be used from the Hummels because Beth gets in danger, when one is dead
-Jane gets fever like Beth, is a writer like Jo and her name Jane Letitia (means glee) Penderwick could remind of Amy Curtis March.
- Skye blonde like Amy, tomboy like Jo.
- Rosalind loves flowers, like Meg in "Vanity Fair" (same book is mentioned), she overhears something dreadful (Kathleen), she's reading a book for crush's sake (Maria Stuart vs. Civil War book, of course!)
- Jeffrey is like -Laurie the rich, lonely boy in the neighbour house, behind a hedge and playing music on the piano. With tragic family story. And who wants to run away after a fight, but stays.
- also Mr. Laurence; like in chapter 21, he makes peace after talk with Jane/Jo, and Skye/Jo says something about him, when he's behind, and Batty is not afraid of his "He, he", what Beth was, and she gives him a present (like the slippers).
Book 2: the switched trip (Boston/Europe), Iantha= Meg (Secrets, confidential, marriage) and the Christmas presents for the mother). Of course, a theatre play, where Skye faints like Amy and has declined of class -because she's teaching herself the further maths stuff, Jane is messy, an actress like Jo and has dolls like Beth, gets humiliated by a teacher like Amy, Pearson likes doing races with Skye like Laurie in "Secrets", Batty is fallen in water like Amy, but rescued by Rosalind and Tommy.
VOCÊ ESTÁ LENDO
A companion to The Penderwicks
Não FicçãoDisclaimer: This is neither a fanfic nor an official book to Jeanne Birdsall's Penderwicks series. This is also not an annotated edition because I don't copy the text of the book. Thus, it's a companion and commentary on The Penderwicks series, es...
