Age: 8-12 years
Lexile: 730
Author: Holm, Jennifer L.
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Yearling Books (12/26/2007)
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 7.7 inches

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! 
 
Schools 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 dont go according to plan. Pennys mom doesnt want her to swim because shes afraid Penny will get polio. Frankie is constantly getting into trouble, and Penny feels caught between the two sides of her family. But even if the summer doesnt exactly start as planned . . . things can work out in the most unexpected ways!
 
Set just after World War II, this thought-provoking novel also highlights the prejudice Pennys Italian American family must confront because people of Italian descent were “the enemy” not long ago.
 
Inspired by three-time Newbery Honor winner Jennifer Holms 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.
 
Includes an authors note with photographs and background on World War II, internment camps, and 1950s America, as well as additional resources and websites.
 
"Holm's deft storytelling is at once rosy, rounded, and realistic." --San Francisco Chronicle