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Penny From Heaven
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Written by Jennifer L. Holm
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On Sale: December 26, 2007
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Synopsis|Excerpt
Synopsis
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.
Includes an Author's Note with photographs and additional background on World War II, Internment camps and 1950s America, as well as additional resources and websites.
Booklist:
"Holm impressively wraps pathos with comedy in this coming-of-age story, populated by a cast of vivid characters."
Excerpt
CHAPTER ONEMe-me says that Heaven is full of fluffy white clouds and angels.
That sounds pretty swell, but how can you sit on a cloud? Wouldn’t you fall right through and smack onto the ground? Like Frankie always says, angels have wings, so what do they have to worry about?
My idea of Heaven has nothing to do with clouds or angels. In my Heaven there’s butter pecan ice cream and swimming pools and baseball games. The Brooklyn Dodgers always win, and I have the best seat in the house, right behind the Dodgers’ dugout. That’s the only advantage that I can see to being dead: You get the best seat in the house.
I think about Heaven a lot. Not because of the usual reasons, though. I’m only eleven, and I don’t plan on dying until I’m at least a hundred. It’s just that I’m named after that Bing Crosby song “Pennies from Heaven,” and when you’re named after something, you can’t help but think about it.
See, my father was crazy about Bing Crosby, and that’s why everyone calls me Penny instead of Barbara Ann Falucci, which is what’s on my birth certificate. No one ever calls me Barbara, except teachers, and sometimes even I forget that it’s my real name.
I guess it could be worse. I could be called Clementine, which was the name of another Bing Crosby song that my father really liked. I don’t think I’d make a very good Clementine.
Then again, who would?
CHAPTER TWO
Uncle Dominic is sitting in his car. It’s a 1940 Plymouth Roadking. It’s black with chrome trim, and the hubcaps are so shiny, you could use them as a mirror. Uncle Dominic pays my cousin Frankie to shine them up. It’s an awfully nice car; everybody says so. But then, it’s kind of hard to miss. It’s been parked in the side yard of my grandmother Falucci’s house for as long as I can remember.
Uncle Dominic lives right there in his car. Nobody in the family thinks it’s weird that Uncle Dominic lives in his car, or if they do, nobody ever says anything. It’s 1953, and it’s not exactly normal for people in New Jersey to live in cars. Most people around here live in houses. But Uncle Dominic’s kind of a hermit. He also likes to wear slippers instead of shoes. Once I asked him why.
“They’re comfortable,” he said.
Besides living in the car and wearing slippers, Uncle Dominic’s my favorite uncle, and I have a lot of uncles. Sometimes I lose track of them.
“Hey, Princess,” Uncle Dominic calls. I lean through the window and hear the announcer on the portable radio. Uncle Dominic likes to listen to ball games in the car. There’s a pillow and a ratty-looking blanket on the backseat. Uncle Dominic says the car’s the only place he can get any rest. He has a lot of trouble falling asleep.
“Hi, Uncle Dominic,” I say.
“Game’s on,” he says.
I start to open the back door, but Uncle Dominic says, “You can sit up front.”
Uncle Dominic’s very particular about who’s allowed to sit in his car. Most people have to sit in the back, although Uncle Nunzio always sits up front. I don’t think anyone ever tells Uncle Nunzio what to do.
“Who’s winning?” I ask.
“Bums are ahead.”
I love the Brooklyn Dodgers, and so does Uncle Dominic. We call them Dem Bums. Most people around here like the New York Yankees or the Giants, but not us. Uncle Dominic is staring out the window, like he’s really in the ballpark and watching the game from the bleachers. He’s handsome, with dark hair and brown eyes. Everyone says he looks just like my father. I don’t remember my father because he died when I was just a baby, but I’ve seen photographs, and Uncle Dominic does look like him, except sadder.
“Got something for you,” Uncle Dominic says.
All my uncles give me presents. Uncle Nunzio gives me fur muffs, and Uncle Ralphie gives me candy, and Uncle Paulie brings me fancy perfumes, and Uncle Sally gives me horseshoes. It’s like Christmas all the time.
Uncle Dominic hands me something that looks like a big dark-brown bean.
“What is it?”
“It’s a lucky bean,” he says. Uncle Dominic is superstitious. “Just found it this morning. It was packed away with some old things. I got it for your father before he died, but I never had a chance to give it to him. I want you to have it.”
“Where’d you get it?” I ask.
“Florida,” he says.
Uncle Dominic loves Florida and goes to Vero Beach every winter, probably because it’s too cold to live in the car then. Even though he lives in this car, he has another car that he uses for driving, a 1950 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Frankie says he bets Uncle Dominic has a girl down in Florida, but I kind of don’t think so. Most women want a new Frigidaire, not a backseat.
“Put it in your pocket,” he says. “It’ll keep you safe.”
The lucky bean is big and lumpy. It feels heavy, not the kind of thing to put in a pocket, but Uncle Dominic has this look about his eyes like he might just die if I don’t, and because he is my favorite uncle, I do what I always do.
I smile and say, “Thanks, Uncle Dominic.” For a moment the strain leaves his eyes.
“Anything for you, Princess,” he says. “Anything.”
From the Hardcover edition.
Excerpted from Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm. Copyright © 2006 by Jennifer L. Holm. Excerpted by permission of Random House Books for Young Readers, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Jennifer L. Holm
About Jennifer L. Holm
Photo © Photo provided by the author
Writing Turtle in Paradise was a wonderful way to re-connect with my Key West heritage. My great-grandmother, Jennie Lewin Peck, emigrated from the Bahamas to Key West at the turn of the century. She considered herself a “Conch,” what the local Key West folks called themselves, after the native mollusk that so many fished for in the Bahamas. Nana was always talking about how she missed sugar apple ice cream and Spanish limes. When my editor, Shana Corey, started asking me about Nana and my Key West family, I just knew that there was a story somewhere in there.
Researching this book was also an interesting way to experience a different side of living through the Great Depression. While Key West suffered significant economic hardship (the town went bankrupt and the majority of the citizens were on economic relief), it didn’t have the same sort of feel as most of the depression stories I was used to hearing—soup lines, tent cities, and the Dust Bowl. Key West was warm for one thing, and there was plenty of free food, courtesy of the sea. One man told me, he ate lobster during the Depression! Key West was a freewheeling town full of characters and bygone industries—sponge fishing, rumrunners, and, of course, pirates! It had all the ingredients for a fabulous setting.
I hope you enjoy reading Turtle in Paradise as much as I enjoyed writing it. And if you ever go to Key West, be sure to shake out your shoes!
Praise
|
Awards
Praise
"Penny and her world are clearly drawn and eminently believable."--School Library Journal"Holm impressively wraps pathos with comedy in this coming-of-age story, populated by a cast of vivid characters."--Booklist
"Penny's present-tense narration is both earthy and observant, and her commentary on her families' eccentricities sparkles."--Kirkus Reviews
Awards
FINALIST 2009 Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers AwardWINNER 2007 Newbery Honor Book
WINNER 2007 ALA Notable Children's Book
WINNER 2007 IRA Notable Books for a Global Society
WINNER 2007 Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Children's Book of the Year
WINNER 2007 New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
FINALIST 2007 Iowa Children's Choice Award
Teachers Guide
Teacher's Guide
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Penny plans to spend the summer of 1953 listening to baseball with her Uncle Dominic and swimming with her cousin Frankie; instead she severely injures her arm and spends six weeks of her summer in the hospital, which helps to heal both herself and her family.
Penny loves her father’s big, noisy Italian family, but since he died, her mother won’t have anything to do with them. Still Penny gets to spend Sundays with her paternal relatives, and she helps her Uncle Nunzio in his grocery store as much as her mother will allow. She and Frankie, her best friend and cousin, always manage to get into mischief, and her favorite Uncle Dominic, who lives in his car and wears house slippers, often listens to the Dodgers with her. All in all, Penny has everything she wants, until her arm is caught in a wringer washing machine, and she almost loses her life.
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
Jennifer L. Holm won a Newbery Honor for her first novel, Our Only May Amelia, which was inspired by her father’s family stories. She is the author of several other highly praised novels, including the Boston Jane trilogy and the Babymouse series. Holm lives in Maryland with her husband, Jonathan Hamel, their son Will, and a rather large cat named Princess Leia.
TEACHING IDEAS
Pre-Reading Activity
Holm’s portrayal of 1953 familial social life contrasts dramatically from that of today. After brainstorming a list of questions to ask, focusing on changes in technology, morals, medicine, education, and family values, ask students to interview someone they know who was at least 11 years old in 1953. Students may choose audio or video tape for their interview, and provide a written transcript of their recordings. Have students share the most interesting answer they receive with the class and post transcripts within the classroom.
DISCUSSION AND WRITING
Family–Holm emphasizes the differences between Penny’s Italian family and her mother’s family throughout the story. Ask students to identify the characteristics that make the families so different. Why are the traditions of each family equally important to Penny? How do the families show their love to Penny in different ways? How are their expressions of love the same?
Friendship–Even though Frankie and Penny are cousins, they are also best friends. What qualities do each of them possess that draws them to one another? Discuss with students how their differences make their friendship stronger. How do they rely on one another to help them through the rough times? Why is Penny so willing to do what Frankie asks of her, even when she knows she might get in trouble?
Intergenerational Relationships–Penny’s relationships with her grandmothers are as different as the grandmothers themselves. What lessons does she learn from Nonny that she can’t learn from Me-me, and vice versa? Why does Uncle Dominic play such an important role in her life?
Death–The death of Penny’s father drastically changes the lives of his family members, in part because of the way he died. How is Uncle Dominic’s life changed by his brother’s death? How does the truth about her father’s death alter its emotional impact on Penny’s life? How is Penny directly influenced by her mother’s loss? On page 233, Penny wants to tell people, “almost dying is awful easy. It’s the living that’s hard.” How has her life reflected this statement?
Coming-of-Age–Penny experiences a series of traumatic situations during the summer and her life is altered because of each event. Her dog, Scarlet O’Hara, dies; she almost dies in an accident; she discovers the truth about her father’s death; and her mother begins to date. How is Penny a better person because of her responses to what occurs?
Forgiveness–On page 242, Penny says, “It’s my turn finally to give him something he won’t give himself. Forgiveness.” How does Penny give Uncle Dominic forgiveness? What other characters give the gift of forgiveness?
SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
Language Arts–The author uses allusion by referring to the song “Pennies from Heaven” throughout the book. Ask students to read the lyrics, which are printed in the front of the book, then discuss how the song relates to the story and the characters in the book. In small groups have students rewrite the lyrics, using original wording where appropriate, to tell the specific story of Penny and her family. Have groups present their new song to the class.
History–Penny doesn’t understand why her father was put in an internment camp, and no one seems to be able to answer her questions. Ask students to research the arrest and internment of non-naturalized Italian Americans during World War II and to write a letter of explanation to Penny. Students should assume the voice of a government official, the arresting officer, the prison warden, one of the family members, or someone else that might have had a role in the arrest.
Science–Penny’s mother is fearful that Penny will contract polio from swimming in a public pool. With a partner ask students to investigate polio to discover its history, causes, effects, and cures. Then ask them to make a “Polio–Then and Now” public health brochure with the information they discovered. Display the brochures in the classroom.
Drama/Art–Chapter 13 is about Penny’s birthday, and the imagery allows the reader to clearly picture the different events. Ask students to create a birthday card, illustrating one aspect of Penny’s birthday to display or to write a script of one of the events in the chapter and perform it for the class.
Writing–Penny from Heaven was inspired by the author’s mother’s family. At the end of the book, there is an Author’s Note and a family album. Have students bring in a family photo or memento that is special to them. Then ask each student to write the story behind the item including descriptions of the relatives involved. Ask for volunteers to read their stories to the class.
VOCABULARY
After looking up the words in the dictionary, have students use the following words in a complete sentence using context clues so that the reader will be able to determine the meaning of the word: hermit (p. 3); frothing (p. 31); mischievous (p. 63); smirks (p. 92); traitor (p. 129); grimaces (pp. 142 and 229).
In small groups have students share their sentences and write a short humorous paragraph using some of their “found” sentences, adding, deleting, and rearranging as necessary. Have students present their passages to the class.
BEYOND THE BOOK
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian-American
The free encyclopedia’s page on the history of Italian Americans in the United States.
CNN
www.cnn.com/US/9709/21/italian.relocation
A CNN news report about the internment of Italian Americans during World War II.
Kids Health
kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/polio.html
The definition, causes, and cures of polio.
Every Child by Two–Campaign for Early Immunization
www.ecbt.org/polio.htm
Information about the polio epidemic in the 1950s.
Ad Classix
www.adclassix.com/ads/46gewasher.htm
A picture of a 1946 wringer washer.
OTHER TITLES OF INTEREST
Macaroni Boy
Katherine Ayres
Family • Intergenerational Relationships
Bullying • Survival
Grades 3—7
Yearling paperback • 0-440-41884-4
Delacorte Press hardcover • 0-385-73016-0
GLB/reinforced library binding • 0-375-93687-4
Listening Library CD • 0-7393-3111-6
Under the Blood-Red Sun
Graham Salisbury
Friendship • Family Relationships • Survival
Grades 5 up
Laurel-Leaf paperback • 0-553-49487-2
Yearling paperback • 0-440-41139-4
Belle Prater’s Boy
Ruth White
Grades 5 up
Friendship • Family Relationships • Coming-of-Age
Yearling paperback • 0-440-41372-9
Listening Library CD • 0-307-20655-6
Listening Library cassette • 0-553-47898-2
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
Prepared by Susan Geye, Library Media Specialist, Crowley Ninth Grade Campus, Crowley, Texas.
Download a PDF of the Teacher's Guide
- Penny From Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm
- December 26, 2007
- Juvenile Fiction; Family & Relationships; Juvenile Fiction - Social Situations - Prejudice & Racism; Juvenile Fiction - Ethnic - Other; Juvenile Fiction - Historical - United States - 20th Century
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