![]() ![]() ![]() The children do their best to convince him: they create a petition, attempt to give him breakfast in bed, and even give him a kitten. Beiderman decides not to renew their lease, and the children make it their mission to change his mind. In the first installment of the series, “The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017), Mr. Beiderman, a curmudgeonly old man who lives a life of isolation on the top floor. The family rents part of a brownstone from Mr. ![]() The five children range in age from 4 to 12 years old. The Vanderbeekers books feature a biracial family living in a vibrant Harlem neighborhood. Karina Yan Glaser’s “The Vanderbeekers” is one of those series. Books with lots of siblings, like Jeanne Birdsall’s “The Penderwicks” or Gertrude Chandler Warner’s classic “Boxcar Children.” Books with crises that seem unfixable at the climax but wrap up neatly at the end with a feeling that everything is as it should be. There is something to be said for sweet, quiet chapter books. ![]()
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