Penny from Heaven

by Jennifer L. Holm

Paperback, 2007

Status

Available

Call number

J4D.Hol

Publication

A Yearling Book (Random House)

Pages

274

Description

As she turns twelve during the summer of 1953, Penny gains new insights into herself and her family while also learning a secret about her father's death.

Description

It's 1953 and 11-year-old Penny dreams of a summer of butter pecan ice cream, swimming, and baseball. But nothing’s that easy in Penny’s family. For starters, she can’t go swimming because her mother’s afraid she’ll catch polio at the pool. To make matters worse, her favorite uncle is living in a car. Her Nonny cries every time her father’s name is mentioned. And the two sides of her family aren’t speaking to each other!

Inspired by Newbery Honor winner Jennifer Holm’s own Italian American family, Penny from Heaven is a shining story about the everyday and the extraordinary, about a time in America’s history, not all that long ago, when being Italian meant that you were the enemy. But most of all, it’s a story about families—about the things that tear them apart and bring them together. And Holm tells it with all the richness and the layers, the love and the laughter of a Sunday dinner at Nonny’s. So pull up a chair and enjoy the feast! Buon appetito!

Tags

JUVENILE FICTION, Middle Grade Books, Girls, Family, Historical Fiction, 20th Century, Real Life Fiction

Collection

Juvenile

Barcode

6999

Language

English

Original language

English

Original publication date

2006

Physical description

274 p.; 7.6 inches

ISBN

0375836896 / 9780375836893

Similar in this library

Media reviews

Penny from heaven
Penny from heaven book review: I just finished reading a fantastic book called Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L Holm. This book represents a girl and her relationship with her family. The overall themes for the book are growing up and letting go of the past. It made me think about me and my
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 relationship with my family by reflecting on those we have lost and how lucky I am to have such a big family. I give Penny from Heaven 4 out of 5 stars, that means people might start loving it. I primarily recommend this book to families of all ages. The characters in the book are of course Penny as the main character, 11 when the book start and 12 by the time that it ended. Her uncle Dominic, her dad’s brother, is her favorite uncle because dad died when she was just a baby. Her dad’s brothers treat her extra special and uncle Dominic is her all-time favorite. Since her dad died when she was just a baby, Penny had a good relationship with her mom and that’s another character. Her and mom also lived with her grandparents, Mom’s parents, Mimi the bad cook and Pop-Pop Mr. Deaf in one ear so he doesn’t hear good and he also talks loud. Penny has a lot of cousins but her best friend would be Frankie, they all go on adventures together. Her mom also had a boyfriend, Pop Mulligan who Penny hated at first but by the end she thought he was an okay guy, and if you want to know more read the story. The book takes place in a small town in New Jersey in 1953. The main settings are Mimi and Pop-Pop’s house, where Penny and her mom live as well. Another important place is her Italian grandmother’s, Dad’s mom’s house. Her Nonny’s cooking is a lot better than Mimi’s cooking that’s for sure. Her uncle Ralphie, one of dad’s many brother’s butcher shop where Penny and Frankie work for the summer is a very important place. A place Penny spent a lot of time in was the hospital because something bad happened to her and she had to stay there for a long time so it became pretty important. The writer’s style was very easy to read because Jennifer L Holm is Penny’s Daughter. She wrote about things that actually happened to her mom. Something that I liked was Penny and her mom’s relationship, their all each other has, expect for Mimi and Pop-Pop. Even when a new family member came in Penny was the most important thing to her mom. In conclusion, once again I recommend this book to families with young kids. There are a few things that I would change if I could, Mr. Mulligan having a few kids might be good too but I don’t mind if there’s just the three of them. But I liked that Jennifer L Holm wrote about her mom’s life. I give this book four out of five stars. This is also a great book for a family that lost someone and readjusting to a new life without the parent there all the time. Also I’d recommend this book for blended families because Penny’s family was blended by the end.
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Lexile

730L

User reviews

LibraryThing member Whisper1
Continuing my quest to read all Newbery award winning books, this one is one of the favorites. Told from the perspective of 11 year old Penny Fulucci, it contains a cast of likeable, colorful characters that are quirky, eccentric and loveable.

The setting is 1950 in post WWII small town New Jersey
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 where Penny resides with her widowed mother and maternal grandparents. Penny's father died when she was a baby and while Penny's mother is estranged from her father's side of the family, she accepts that they are an integral part of her life. They are Italian, emotional, loving and try their best to fill the gap for fatherless Penny.

Penny's best buddy and cousin Frankie is one step away from reform school. Uncle Dominic is "pazza", which translates to crazy in Italian. He lives in a car. They, along with Uncle Nunzo, Uncle Paulie, Uncle Al, Aunt Gina and grandmother Nonny provide a reference for a culture rich in tradition, filled with the hope of retaining the best values of their heritage while embracing American ideals of freedom and liberty.

This begins as a quiet, unassuming book with details regarding the 1950's. Penny has a sense of humor; the characters are well developed and the reader is lulled into a coming of age tale, until, events spiral and Penny learns of the circumstances regarding her father's death.

Using information from Lawrence DiStasi's, Una Storia Segreta: The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment During World War II, the author teaches the many ways that Italian Americans were subjugated in the 1940's and 1950's.

Punished by the government for Italy's role in WWII, Franklin Roosevelt signed Proclamation 2527, thereby labeling non-naturalized Italians as enemies.

While I knew of the terrible internment of Japanese Americans, I did not know that 600,000 Italians had to carry enemy identification booklets and it was mandated they could not speak the Italian, the "enemy language."

Even though they were law-abiding citizens, the author notes that over 3,000 Italian Americans were arrested and hundreds sent to campus.

Jennifer Holm is a three-time Newbery honor winner. She is an author who provides a story and characters that stay with the reader long after the last page is finished.

Highly recommended!
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22 more
LibraryThing member verrilla
Great book about family relationships, forgiveness, growing up. What happened to Penny's dad is a unexpected part of the story. PopPop was my favorite charater.
LibraryThing member meisbres
Loved the scene where the milkman (Penny's mom's boyfriend) comes to dinner and has to eat grandma's awful peas and onions dish, listen to grandpa's burping, and endure Scarlett O'Hara, the dog, peeing on his shoe,
LibraryThing member puppetmaster101
Awesome book!! a must read! It's about life, death, family, and love
LibraryThing member knielsen83
This is a story set in the 1950's about a girl whose father is dead and a series of events leads her to realize more about the death of her father. It had a nice twist to it and really kept your attention while reading.
LibraryThing member RoseMarion
Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm is a very sweet novel. Barbara Falucci, better known as Penny, is an 11 year old girl growing up in New Jersey in 1950s America. Her Italian father is deceased so Penny lives with her American mother and grandparents. While she loves them, she really enjoys
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 spending time with her father's eccentric extended family. From really delicious meals to her favorite Uncle Dominic, spending time with the Falucci's and all of their cousins is a true treat!

The summer Penny turns 12 is filled with time working at Uncle Ralphie's store, adventures with her sarcastic yet loving cousin Frankie, bad hair days, Nonni's food, her cat passing away, her mother dating the milk man, and baseball games. One unfortunate event causes Penny to be in the hospital for many weeks. It is during this time that Penny truly grows as a person and receives needed answers about her father.

Penny from Heaven is a nostalgic read with great well-rounded characters. If you have any Italian heritage, then you will really connect with this story because the characters are so authentic. I listened to this story on Audio CD, and Amber Sealey does a wonderful job with the Eastern and Italian accents! This is a fun and well-written historical fiction novel...enjoy! :)
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LibraryThing member sFWCT
This story is enlightening if you do not have family from very different backgrounds. Being born into both an Italian family on one side and a WASP family on the other in the mid part of last century, the main character Penny tries to solve the mystery of her missing father of whom she has no
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 memories. Some of the unusual characters in her family tree are her Uncle Dominic who lives in a car, and her sometimes deaf grandfather who can hear very well if it suits him.
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LibraryThing member blancaflor
As I am becoming a bigger and bigger fan of Jennifer Holm as she progresses in her writing career, I am discovering a formula that she has found is magic for her. A story from her personal family history with a young female protagonist who grows up a little to learn a little more about the world.
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 Really this book, along with May Amelia, and Turtle in Paradise all are excellent at applying this formula and turning it into an interesting and humorous story.

I was pleased Jennifer Holm had a story about an Italian American and the historical information included on the discrimination that happened during this time is lesser known compared to the internment camps that the Japanese faced. There is a lot here to make connections to for families of Latino descent if using as a literature study in the classroom. I felt this book took us to a sadder place than May Amelia or Turtle, but it still moves us through to a resolution that feels right for a young adult or upper elementary read.
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LibraryThing member Whisper1
Continuing my quest to read all Newbery award winning books, this one is one of the favorites. Told from the perspective of 11 year old Penny Fulucci, it contains a cast of likeable, colorful characters that are quirky, eccentric and loveable.

The setting is 1950 in post WWII small town New Jersey
Show More
 where Penny resides with her widowed mother and maternal grandparents. Penny's father died when she was a baby and while Penny's mother is estranged from her father's side of the family, she accepts that they are an integral part of her life. They are Italian, emotional, loving and try their best to fill the gap for fatherless Penny.

Penny's best buddy and cousin Frankie is one step away from reform school. Uncle Dominic is "pazza", which translates to crazy in Italian. He lives in a car. They, along with Uncle Nunzo, Uncle Paulie, Uncle Al, Aunt Gina and grandmother Nonny provide a reference for a culture rich in tradition, filled with the hope of retaining the best values of their heritage while embracing American ideals of freedom and liberty.

This begins as a quiet, unassuming book with details regarding the 1950's. Penny has a sense of humor; the characters are well developed and the reader is lulled into a coming of age tale, until, events spiral and Penny learns of the circumstances regarding her father's death.

Using information from Lawrence DiStasi's, Una Storia Segreta: The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment During World War II, the author teaches the many ways that Italian Americans were subjugated in the 1940's and 1950's.

Punished by the government for Italy's role in WWII, Franklin Roosevelt signed Proclamation 2527, thereby labeling non-naturalized Italians as enemies.

While I knew of the terrible internment of Japanese Americans, I did not know that 600,000 Italians had to carry enemy identification booklets and it was mandated they could not speak the Italian, the "enemy language."

Even though they were law-abiding citizens, the author notes that over 3,000 Italian Americans were arrested and hundreds sent to campus.

Jennifer Holm is a three-time Newbery honor winner. She is an author who provides a story and characters that stay with the reader long after the last page is finished.

Highly recommended!
Show Less
LibraryThing member Afsolove
Eleven-year-old Penny loves her father's Italian family. Even though her father died before she was born, she spends as much time as she can with her loud uncles and aunts. She can't understand why her "plain old American" mother and grandparents don't seem to like them. As she approaches her
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 twelfth-birthday, Penny begins to learn the truth about the relationship between her mother and her father's family--and exactly what caused her father's mysterious death.

There are moments when Penny from Heaven truly shines. The love Penny shares with both her families is truly moving. Penny has some startling moments of self-realization. And the characters, from a burping grandfather to a vividly-described Italian nonna, are delightfully three-dimentional. Unfortunately, the book is poorly paced. The beginning of the book is episodic, leading up to a climax for which the reader is completely unprepared, presented in a rushed and confused way. Holm doesn't sufficiently tease the reader with the mysterious cause of Penny's father's death, so the true, historical facts that led up to it don't hit home the way they should. While some readers will enjoy the charming, first-person narrative, most members of the intended audience are more likely to be bored than entertained.
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LibraryThing member abbylibrarian
In 1953, 11-year-old Penny spends the summer hanging out with her large, eccentric Italian-American family. This warm-hearted story has tons of historical detail and a wacky, but loveable cast of characters. Penny tries to get someone to tell her exactly how her father died, but no one will. And
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 when Penny's mother starts dating the milkman, it drives a wedge even further between them. Penny's one consolation is her Italian father's side of the family - a host of uncles who give her presents at every turn, a great cook of a grandma, and her firecracker cousin Frankie whose biggest ambition is to become a criminal mastermind. Penny's favorite member of the family is fellow Brooklyn Dodgers fan Uncle Dominic, an eccentric man who lives in his car and wears slippers instead of shoes.

Based on the author's Italian relatives, the story includes an author's note that talks about the history and the people behind the characters.
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LibraryThing member bell7
Penny's real name is Barbara, but she's always been called Penny after the song lyric, "pennies from heaven." She lives with her mother and grandparents; her father is dead, but on his side of the family is a large, loving Italian American extended family complete with grandmother, aunts, uncles,
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 and cousins. The summer she is eleven-going-on-twelve is in the 1950s, and Penny gets a chance to work at her uncle's butcher shop.

I found Penny to be a really likable heroine, and her story is charming. Amber Sealey is an excellent narrator, not only capturing Penny's voice, but also managing a bunch of Italian-accented English that still sounded like individual characters (though not having any Italian relatives, I couldn't tell you how accurate the accent was!). Penny's interactions with her various family members are realistic, and easily relatable. Though this is technically historical fiction, it's based at least partly on the author's own experience growing up, and the history is more of a fact of her life - such as her grandfather's experience in the war - rather than a lesson. A really enjoyable read that I highly recommend.
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LibraryThing member sckimmel
Eleven year old Penny lives with her mother and her maternal grandparents following the death of her father. She also spends a lot of time with her father's extended Italian family including several uncles who dote on her, a cousin Frankie who is always in trouble and a grandmother, Nonny who
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 always dresses in black. It's the summer of 1953; polio keeps her from the swimming pool; her mother is dating the milkman; and the two families barely speak to each other.
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LibraryThing member DonnaKLewis
Review: A look into the summer the year Penny turns 12. Hopefully for a fun summer, Penny learns big lessons that things do not always go the way you want. Hopes of swimming and going to the movies are dashed by an overprotective single mother who fears polio. Penny spends the summer working at her
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 Uncle's shop and hanging out with her father's family in hopes of knowing him more. Tragedy strikes though and Penny ends up in the hospital and she ends up learning more about her family then she ever thought she would.

Personal: I really enjoyed this book. It made me though want to call my mother towards the end because I could not believe that parts of the book were based on true events that happened around the US back during the mid 1950's. I think it is really important for our future that stories like this are told.

Classroom Extension: 1. Make homemade Butter Pecan ice cream (following directions, measurements). 2. In small groups research what it took to become a US citizen back during this time.
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LibraryThing member auntieknickers
Set in 1953 New Jersey, this book is the story of a half-Italian girl being raised, on the one hand, by her widowed mother and native-born American grandparents, and on the other hand, by her late father's large, raucous and slightly eccentric Italian family. (Not that her mother's family isn't a
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 little eccentric too!) Without giving away the plot completely, I must say that one thing I learned was that Italian-Americans (particularly those who were born in Italy) also faced discrimination and internment during World War II. Even growing up in Connecticut among many Italian-Americans, I had not realized this. Penny has many things in common with young people of today, such as dealing with her mother's starting to date, the beginnings of her own attraction to a boy, etc.; but she also has to face over-protectiveness due to the fear of polio, and eventually an injury that few children nowadays would be exposed to. The book started a little slowly and when I got to the uncle who lived in his car (in his mother's backyard) I was thinking, "Oh, not more wacky eccentrics!" but the story picked up fast and I raced through to the satisfying ending. I think it will give a good picture of life in the early 50's to children of today. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member JenJ.
A slow starter, but very enjoyable. The weakest I think of this year's Newbery bunch, but still very good. The style reminds me of Richard Peck's A Year Down Yonder.
LibraryThing member sharon65
This book is about a girl named Penny who has alot of problems, her mother is afraid to allow her to do things because she thinks she will get sick. This book presents real life events for children and people. Her father is dead but no one wants to tell her the truth.

Personal Reaction

This book is
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 for any family who is going through hard times, and they need something or someone to identify with. This family is good for sharing with a child a death of a love one. And it shows that all families have problems and are not perfect.

Classroom Extension

1. Have children to act out a play - someone can be Penny, her mother and her friend.

2. Have children to come up with ideas for the summer

3. Have children to come up with a special day for Penny
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LibraryThing member Salsabrarian
Read by Amber Sealey. Penny lives with her mother, grandma Mimi, and Pop-Pop. Her mother's family is nothing like her father's side, which is Italian, large, emotional, and the food is better than anything Mimi cooks. According to the family Penny's father died of cancer; since then her father's
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 relatives are protective and loving of Penny. Her favorite relatives include mischievous cousin Frankie and quiet Uncle Dominic. The two families never mix and Penny serves as a bridge between them. Penny is enjoying a swell summer, working at her relatives' store, scheming with Frankie and going to a ballgame with Dominic to see "da bums," the Brooklyn Dodgers. After an accident injures her arm, Penny overhears in the hospital that her father didn't die of cancer but worked as a spy and died in jail. Penny demands the truth and learns that her father's only crime was being Italian during WWII and owning a short-wave radio (which he used to listen to games.)
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LibraryThing member Ash13276
I read this book for a project in my Literacy block, but fell in love with the story. I really enjoyed getting to know Penny and her journey in the 1950's, this includes the adventurous moments with her cousin Frankie. I would highly recommend this book for 5th-7th graders. This is a great book
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 that is about how Penny finds out about her fathers death, and the days in Penny's eyes. Penny has never met her biological father and unfortunately, will never get to due to a sickness he has as well as being taken away for having something that his brother has brought him. This book is 304 pages long so it is kind of lengthy, but i think is totally worth the read. If i ever teach in the higher grades then i will have this book be one that they may look at especially if they feel like its hard to find something interesting. At first, i was not to sure if i would stay engaged in the book, but i did. Great ending. Trust me you wan to read it!
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LibraryThing member fingerpost
Penny lives with her mother, and her mother's parents. Her father died. Nearby, is her father's large Italian-American family, her grandmother, a whole slew of uncles and aunts, and her cousin and best friend, Frankie, who is a bit of a trouble-maker.
Most of the book is episodic, just drifting from
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 one slice of life to another. Towards the last quarter, it begins to focus on an injury Penny sustains, and what exactly happened to her father.
It reminded me in many ways of Christopher Paul Curtis' "The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963" except it is examining the lives and troubles of an Italian-American family not long after the end of World War II, where Italians were the enemy, instead of the lives and troubles of a black family in 1963.
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LibraryThing member jennybeast
Portrait of a 1953 Brooklyn summer, with a passel of Italian relatives, an eccentric home life, and lots of secrets to uncover. Enjoyable read -- moves right along, with several big moments: mom dating the milkman after years alone, on over the top 12th birthday treat to see the Dodgers play, a
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 treasure hunt that leads to a debilitating accident, and the truth about how her father died. Layers and stories and lots of characters to love. I appreciated that this was based on Holm's mother's life, and I think she did a wonderful job bringing the time and place to life.
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LibraryThing member SHeineke
A little slow at first this historical novel is a carefully woven story that depicts a preteen girl, Penny, as she wrestles with the absence of a dead father, being reared by a working single mother and aging grandparents, and dealing with her mother's dating and remarrying. The historical and
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 cultural setting paints a picture of a large Italian family who had immigrated to the US and then suffered during WWII just because they were Italian. How they would not teach the children their language but made them speak only English. At the end of the book Penny learns that her father died at an internment camp, imprisoned a a spy without evidence except that he owned a sophisticated radio.
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LibraryThing member Ldecher
Brave, smart, twelve-year-old Penny (and her friend, Frankie--who’s always trying to get into trouble) have the summer ahead of them. Penny copes with overwhelming food from very opposite grandmothers, expensive gifts from one family that the other half doesn't want to accept, and the mystery
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 that no one will talk about.

Loved this vivid story! It made me feel like I was there—washing machine injury, oh my! Lots of body fluids from the leaky dog, Scarlett O’Hara. Eccentric people. Huge, loving family. Her big Italian family calls her “sweetheart” and "Hey princess". You can hear the voice coming off the page! It's like watching old home movies--I hear my own grandparents' voices and home movies were silent back then. :)

Set in 1953, this gripping mystery was inspired by Bing Crosby’s “Pennies from Heaven” and the author's own grandparents.
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Rating

½ (198 ratings; 3.9)

Subjects

Family life New Jersey Fiction
Italian Americans Fiction
New Jersey History 20th century Fiction
Secrets Fiction

Awards

Call number

J4D.Hol

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