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    Penny From Heaven
    Unavailable
    Penny From Heaven
    Unavailable
    Penny From Heaven
    Audiobook5 hours

    Penny From Heaven

    Written by Jennifer L. Holm

    Narrated by Amber Sealey

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 25, 2006
    ISBN9780739331125
    Unavailable
    Penny From Heaven
    Author

    Jennifer L. Holm

    Jennifer L. Holm is the New York Times bestselling author of The Fourteenth Goldfish. Her novels Our Only May Amelia, Penny from Heaven, and Turtle in Paradise are all Newbery Honor winners. Jennifer also collaborates with her brother, Matthew Holm, on two graphic novel series: the Eisner Award-winning Babymouse series and the bestselling Squish series.

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    Reviews for Penny From Heaven

    4/5

    212 ratings13 reviews

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    • 5/5
      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 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!
    • 4/5
      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 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.
    • 4/5
      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 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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      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, 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.
    • 3/5
      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 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.
    • 4/5
      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 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!
    • 5/5
      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 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! :)
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      Awesome book!! a must read! It's about life, death, family, and love
    • 3/5
      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,
    • 3/5
      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 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.