Jeane Birdsall author page

Jeane Birdsall biography

Jeanne Birdsall is an American children’s author best known for The Penderwicks. She grew up in the suburbs west of Philadelphia and attended public schools there. She decided that she wanted to become a writer when she was ten, but began writing seriously at forty-one.

Birdsall’s photographs are held in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian and the Philadelphia Art Museum. Her writing career is centred on middle-grade fiction, including The Penderwicks and The Penderwicks on Gardam Street. The Penderwicks won the National Book Award, and The Penderwicks on Gardam Street continued the story of the Penderwick family.

The Penderwicks series began in 2005 with The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy. The third Penderwicks novel, The Penderwicks at Point Mouette, was published by Knopf on 10 May 2011 and is the third volume in the series. The fourth title, The Penderwicks in Spring, had been published by the end of March 2015 and was described as the penultimate Penderwick tale.

Her other books include My Favorite Pets, Teaflet and Roog Make a Mess and The Library of Unruly Treasures. She also contributed an introduction to Nancy and Plum. The Penderwicks at Point Mouette was published by Knopf on 10 May 2011.