The Penderwicks

Jeanne Birdsall (born 1951) is an American author of children's literature best known for her five-book Penderwicks series, beginning with The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy (2005), which won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Previously a photographer whose work is held in collections including the Smithsonian and Philadelphia Museum of Art, she published her debut novel at age 54 after deciding to write at 41. She lives in western Massachusetts.