Pen
ny Dreadful (Yearling) by Laurel Snyder. $7.99- paperback
The Longest Night:A Passover Story (Schwartz and Wade) by Laurel Snyder. $17.99
A lonely and bookish little girl whose parents lose their wealth after she wishes that she could have an adventure like the ones she reads about in books discovers that happiness isn’t contingent upon wealth. Along the way this little girl named Penelope Grey discovers diverse friends and she realizes her own strengths and abilities. Penny Dreadful proves to be a delightful and magical novel about Penelope, who reinvents herself as Penny, after her family loses their wealth but inherits a debt-ridden house in the small town of Thrush Junction. But this novel is so much more.
While Penny’s story is an adventure, the novel also weaves in issues of economic disparity and Penny’s discovery of social differences. As a rich girl, Penny has led a sheltered life, one in which prejudices might grow simply because of a lack of experience. But when her father leaves his job in the business world and the family has no choice but to move, Penny faces the reality that her sheltered existence has made her a bit biased against anyone who is different. She will have to make a choice to remain alone and lonely or to accept members of her community. She chooses to be open to new experiences and to change. Even as she and her parents discover a disparate group of neighbors who happen to have inherited squatters’ rights to the property, Penny will have to make a choice to remain alone and lonely or accept of her community. Meanwhile, her parents discover that by making nontraditional choices, they can survive and be happier
Charming black and white illustrations (reminiscent of Edgar Eager’s Half Magic books) by Abigail Halpin serve to heighten the magic of Penny Dreadful‘s charm. Each illustration gives readers a delightful look at Penny’s new friends and moments in which they share Penny’s friendship.
As the novel unfolds, Penny and her young friends search for treasure to save the families. Penny’s mom gets a job, a rather nontraditional job, at that, as the town’s first garbage woman. Penny’s father takes on the cooking and cleaning—which he’s quite good at. Penny and her family meet and befriend artists and single moms, a family with two moms and people of all ages and abilities. Penny’s family frets that they might lose the debt-ridden property which is home to this diverse group of families, but they discover the value of commitment as everyone pulls together as only true community can.
It should be no surprise that author Laurel Snyder’s fun and funny story of Penny Dreadful is layered with themes of tolerance and acceptance. A look at all of her publications demonstrates that Snyder is an author who lets her writing lead her into the most diverse and unexpected places. Her newest book, a picture book in poetry called The Longest Night: A Passover Story takes on themes of Exodus and the plagues that befell Moses and his people. Vibrant and rich watercolor illustrations by Catia Chen capture the mystique of the story through the eyes of a slave girl and depict the miraculous power of the sea’s parting to enable escape.
Snyder says of her work, “The main thing for me is that I’m always trying to keep myself interested. My books all feel like very different projects when I begin them. I think, ‘I wonder if I can pull that off?’ Then I try. Sometimes, I fail, and books fizzle. Sometimes, I end up with exactly what I wanted to create. Sometimes I end up utterly surprised.”