PENNY DREADFUL by Laurel Snyder

It’s another hot, sit-on-the-dock, read, swim, and eat-watermelon day, and there is both good news and bad news to report.

The bad news is that my ARC of Laurel Snyder’s PENNY DREADFUL got dripped on a little and is the tiniest bit soggy.

The good news is that I finished reading, and…wait…that’s bad news, too.  Because I’m going to miss this book a lot.  It’s one of those stories that feels like cold lemonade in summer or steaming hot chocolate in winter — timeless and comfortable and homey.  It’s about a rich girl from the city, Penelope, who turns into a not-so-rich girl in the country, Penny.  Where Penelope lived in a mansion and had a tutor, Penny lives in an old country house. She has awesome, eclectic neighbors (Oh, how I wish I could have had zany, messy Luella as a friend!), inner resources, and Adventures with a capital A. 

This book felt familiar to me when I was reading, and it took me a while to figure out why. When I was a kid, I loved Pippi Longstocking.  I wanted to BE Pippi Longstocking. I wanted a monkey and a tree to hang from upside down and braids that stuck out like that. It was a book that I read over and over and wished that I could live inside. PENNY DREADFUL has that same feel to it — that sense of setting off on a wonderful adventure with true friends who might be just a little dangerous and are all the more fun for it.  It was a perfect dock-swimming-summer-day book.  Sorry about the soggy pages, Laurel, but it was too hard to put down.

Other dock reading happening at the Messner house this week:

Son (14) – THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin

Daughter (8) OUT OF MY MIND by Sharon Draper

Husband (who probably would not want his age mentioned) WEATHER ON THE AIR: A HISTORY OF BROADCAST METEOROLOGY by Robert Henson

Up next for me: THE STRANGE CASE OF THE ORIGAMI YODA by Tom Angleberger

What are you reading this week?