This is the third installment of the Penderwick family with some changes in the offing. Dad has remarried and is off on a trip with his new wife. Oldest daughter, Rosalind is going off for a summer trip with a friend and getting a first but much needed vacation from being the mom substitute.

Tillie Anderson immigrated to the United States in 1889 to find a better life. One day she spied a man speeding by the tailor shop where she was working. She wanted to go fast like that. She wanted a bicycle. Even though she was told that bicycles were unladylike, she had a dream.

Animal Crackers Fly the Coop by Kevin O’Malley is a perfect picture book gift for punsters of all ages. It is based on the Bremen Town Musicians tale, but the main character is a hen who has seen the writing on the wall,; Fry-day is coming on her farm. She flies the coop to pursue her dream of being a comedi-hen.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia is an historical fiction novel from 1968.  Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are sent to Oakland, California to spend the summer with the mother who abandoned them and who they do not remember. They have visions of Hollywood and Disneyland, but their expectations are not even close to what they find when they get to Cecile’s house. She makes it clear that she did not want them and they are not to mess up her life. She spends her time writing poetry in the kitchen, which is off-limits to them.