Despite the sadness at the heart of Batty’s dilemma, Birdsall, as always, lightens her serious themes with humor and the background hum of a busy household full of likable people. The precocity of the younger siblings calls to mind Hilary McKay’s Casson books, but Birdsall departs from her many vaunted readalikes by cranking the emotional drama up a notch with her focus on Batty’s depression, the reasons for Skye’s coldness toward Batty, and the tension of having a dear friend, neighbor Nick, in harm’s way. The Texas Rangers (18-13) and Los Angeles Angels (19-14) meet Saturday as they continue a 3-game series. Batty’s responses to her troubles are fully understandable for a sensitive girl her age who’s caught in the midst of losses she can do nothing to recompense, but Birdsall follows the storytelling maxim that you can’t take your readers into the darkness without leading them back out again, so all is set right in the end. When she overhears a devastating truth about her birth from her older sister Skye, she plunges into a serious depression, and her refusal to leave her bed alarms the entire family. When Batty’s singing voice catches the attention of her new music teacher, she’s determined to earn her own money to pay for singing lessons, but her efforts lead unexpectedly to dog-walking, a task she’s not sure she’s ready for after Hound.

Batty is still grieving the loss of Hound, who died six months earlier, but she’s also distressed over the family’s tight money situation. The focus of the fourth installment in the Penderwick series is on the younger siblings: Lydia, the effervescent and multilingual two-year-old Ben, the only boy Penderwick and most especially ten-year-old Batty.

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