Jeanne Birdsall

Jeanne Birdsall (born 1951) is an American writer of children's books. She is known mainly for her debut novel The Penderwicks and its sequels, the last of which was published in 2018. The Penderwicks won the 2005 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

Birdsall was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up in the suburbs. Birdsall has one sibling, a sister who is four years older than she. She decided to become a writer at the age of ten — but she didn't start until she was forty-one. She worked first on other jobs, most notably as a photographer, and some of her work has been displayed in galleries around the world. She has kept several pets, including dogs, cats, rabbits, and a snail.

As of 2005, Birdsall lives in a house that is "old and comfortable, full of unruly animals, and surrounded by gardens" in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Birdsall's first book was published when she was 54. The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy introduced the Penderwick sisters and won the 2005 National Book Award. Her second book was a sequel, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street (2008). Her third book was The Penderwicks at Point Mouette (2011), followed by The Penderwicks in Spring (2015). The fifth and final book in the series, The Penderwicks at Last was published on May 15, 2018.

Birdsall's first picture book, Flora's Very Windy Day, was illustrated by Matt Phelan and published under the Clarion Books imprint in August 2010. The third Penderwicks novel, The Penderwicks at Point Mouette, was released by Knopf on May 10, 2011.

• The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005) —winner of the National Book Award
• The Penderwicks on Gardam Street (Knopf, 2008)
• Flora's Very Windy Day (Clarion/Houghton Mifflin, 2010), children's picture book illustrated by Matt Phelan
• The Penderwicks at Point Mouette (Knopf, 2011)
• Lucky and Squash (Harper/HarperCollins, 2012), picture book illus. Jane Dyer
• The Penderwicks in Spring (Knopf, 2015)
• The Penderwicks At Last (Knopf, 2018)