Penny From Heaven

By: Jennifer L. Holm

Narrated by: Amber Sealey

Jennifer Holm's New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor Winner is the story of a summer of adventures and secrets that will change everything, at a time in America’s history, just after World War II, when being Italian-American meant confronting prejudice because you'd been the enemy not that long ago .

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 dog, Scarlett O'Hara, is sick. Her favorite uncle is living in a car. Her best friend is turning into a criminal. And no one will tell Penny the truth about how her father died.

Inspired by three time Newbery Honor winner Jennifer Holm’s own Italian American family, Penny from Heaven is a story about families—about the things that tear them apart and the things that bring them back together.

"Holm impressively wraps pathos with comedy in this coming-of-age story, populated by a cast of vivid characters."—Booklist©2006 Jennifer L. Holm; (P)2006 Random House Inc.

Enjoyable Read

I tend to like my audio-books to be longer so there is more in-depth detail and development but this was an enjoyable book with characters that are likable and easy to picture. I can only imagine how good it would have been with a few hundred more pages to dig into. It's not an over complicated story and even a bit simple but it's sweet and will make you smile often if not a true LOL.

A Light Coming of Age Book

This is very different from the books I usually read, and that's what I wanted. A gentle, summertime book to let my mind rest while on vacation. The author takes us back to the 1950s and invites you into the life of Penny, a young teenager with two very different families: her mother and her white-bread grandparents with whom she lives, and her late father's big extended, Italian family. The events of the book take place over the summer when Penny's eyes are opened to many things. There is nothing that would offend anyone in this book (it's probably a youth novel), but it's also not a page-turner. Very much like the books I read as a girl in the 1960s. The narrator does a good job with most of the characters, with the exception of the young boy cousin and Penny's grandfather, which I found slightly irritating.

Informative, but sometimes dry.

The story line is enough to keep you listening, but not enough to absorb you. But very interesting perspective on post-WWII life. I didn’t know how unjustly Italians were treated in the post-war era!

Touching

Jennifer Holm is an excellent author of childrens literature and the characters and story in this book are charming and believable. I enjoyed the story and the narrator and know my elementary students (and teachers) will enjoy this as well.

Awesome

I extremely recommend this book. It is a great fiction novel. It has funny humor and great back story. The details are extraordinary details. Reading this book you will never get bored