Various scrapes and little tragedies lead to a nearly catastrophic encounter with a clothes wringer and finally the truth about her father’s death. Penny’s present-tense narration is both earthy and observant, and her commentary on her families’ eccentricities sparkles. Holm has crafted a leisurely, sprawling period piece, set in the 1950s and populated by a large cast of offbeat characters. And even worse, her mother has begun dating the milkman. No one talks about her father’s absence, and that’s beginning to bother her more and more.

Her best pal is her cousin Frankie, with whom she delivers groceries from her uncle’s store, worships at the shrine of the Brooklyn Dodgers and gets into trouble. Summers, she moves freely between them, mediating as best she can between the two. 'Holm's deft storytelling is at once rosy, rounded, and realistic.Penny, almost 12, is caught between two extremes: her mother’s small, uptight, WASP family, and her dead father’s large, exuberant, Italian one. Includes an author’s note with photographs and background on World War II, internment camps, and 1950s America, as well as additional resources and websites. 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. Set just after World War II, this thought-provoking novel also highlights the prejudice Penny’s Italian American family must confront because people of Italian descent were “the enemy” not long ago.

things can work out in the most unexpected ways! But even if the summer doesn’t exactly start as planned.

Frankie is constantly getting into trouble, and Penny feels caught between the two sides of her family. Penny’s mom doesn’t want her to swim because she’s afraid Penny will get polio. School’s out for summer, and Penny and her cousin Frankie have big plans to eat lots of butter pecan ice cream, swim at the local pool, and cheer on their favorite baseball team-the Brooklyn Dodgers! But sometimes things don’t go according to plan. Newbery Honor–winning, New York Times–bestselling, and as full of fun and adventure as it is of deeper family issues-now with striking new cover art!

Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm