Penny from Heaven

Penny from Heaven
Author: Jennifer Holm
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 037583687X
ISBN-13: 978-0375836879

Penny from Heaven is the story of 12-year old Penny Falucci, an Italian-American girl growing up in the 1950’s. Her father has died under mysterious circumstances when Penny was very little. She and her mother live with her slightly eccentric maternal grandparents. The grandmother, Me-Me is a horrible cook, Pop-Pop, the grandfather is constantly working on the plumbing and causing leaks, Penny’s mother works very hard and is struggling to make a life for herself. Penny also has this huge, extended Italian family with one favorite cousin, a gaggle of aunts and uncles that are devoted to her as well as her Italian grandparents that adore her. For some reason, the two families do not get along.

Penny’s not lacking in love. What she is lacking in is knowledge of her father. Nobody speaks of him, no one will tell her how he died.

This summer begins like any other with Penny and her favorite cousin Frankie playing baseball, delivering meat from their uncle’s butcher shop and hanging out. For her birthday, her Uncle Dominic has bought her Dodgers (Dem Bums) tickets for her birthday. It’s her very first game so she’s understandably excited and wiggles out of her mother’s birthday celebration for her. It conveys both Penny’s excitement and her mother’s quiet resignation and hurt.

Penny’s mother starts dating the milkman, Mr. Mulligan and Penny goes nuts. She’s hurt, she’s jealous, she doesn’t give Mr. Mulligan or her mother a chance. Things start to escalate and then something happens to Penny that turns both families upside down and bring them closer. Old secrets are disclosed and a shameful history of the country is exposed.

The cast of characters in this book is completely amazing. Each one of the characters is very detailed, well-defined and multi-layered. The former dancer, Aunt Gina and her battles with Nonny, the Italian grandmother were very realistic. It sounded just like my grandmother Ruth and her disapproval of one of my aunts.

The post-war 1950’s are portrayed so vividly that you feel you’re in that time period. Everything is so real. There’s a lot of history woven into this book and I think boys will like it just as much as girls. The real fans however are going to be adults that remember that era fondly.

Penny from Heaven is a completely remarkable book and it has something for everyone. Highly recommended!

Someday

Someday
Author: Alison McGhee
Illustrator: Peter H. Reynolds
Publisher: Atheneum
ISBN-10: 1416928111
ISBN-13: 978-1416928119

Someday tells the beautiful story of a mother and her baby daughter in eloquent but spare prose accompanied by simple, yet powerful illustrations.

The book is very moving. It tells the story of a mother and her baby daughter from babyhood to childhood, "One day I counted your fingers and kissed each one", moving on to present day, "Then, you were my baby,/ and now you are my child", finally imagining the future of the child, "Someday I will stand on this porch and watch your arms waving to me until I no longer see you."

Someday is very touching and almost made me cry thinking of my own children and how they’re grown now with families of their own. The emotion builds with each page and I found myself smiling, teary, wistful and hopeful. The book portrays a young mother’s hopes and dreams for her child in such a beautiful way.
The simple pen-and-ink and watercolors quietly and profoundly emphasize each page in a way that compliments the text perfectly. The colors give a sense of the dreams and hopes in a soft, almost wispy way.

I found this story to be absolutely lovely. It makes a wonderful gift for a new mother, an expectant mother or a grandparent. The age range is pre-school, but I think it will be much loved by us moms, much more so than the daughters. It’s also a wonderful baby shower gift.

Book description from the publisher:

A mother's love leads to a mother's dream -- every mother's dream -- for her child to live life to its fullest.

A deceptively simple, powerful ode to the potential of love and the potential in life, Someday is the book you'll want to share with someone else...today.