Penny adalah nama panggilan kesayangan dari seorang gadis bernama Barbara Ann Falucci. Ayahnya, yang telah lama meninggal, amat menyukai lagu "Pennies from heaven" milik Bing Crosby, sampai-sampai memanggil anak satu-satunya dengan sebutan Penny. Ia dan keluarganya tinggal di Brooklyn, keluarga yang sangat-sangat besar terutama keluarga mendiang ayahnya yang memiliki darah Italia. Penny tinggal dengan ibunya berserta Pop-pop dan Me-Me, kakek neneknya. Mereka tinggal tidak jauh dengan keluarga Falucci, dan Penny juga dekat dengan keluarga Ayahnya tersebut. Sehari harinya, Penny sering membantu di toko daging milik Uncle Ralphie, saudara laki-laki ayahnya, bersama Frankie, sepupunya. Frankie adalah anak laki-laki yang sering spontan saat bertindak, ini membuat dia mudah sekali terlibat suatu masalah. Terlebih lagi karena ayahnya seorang pemabuk dan sering dipecat kerja, Frankie seolah memikul beban menjadi kepala keluarga bagi ibu dan adiknya, meski saudara-saudara yang lain tidak segan-segan membantu mereka. Mereka berdua sering bermain bersama, terkadang Frankie mengajak Penny bermain baseball, menghabiskan hari di rumah Nonny (ibu dari ayahnya Penny) atau sekadar bermalas malasan di rumah Penny. Ibu, Pop-Pop dan Me-Me sebenarnya tidak terlalu suka jika Penny sering memghabiskan waktu dengan keluarga Falucci. Penny tahu itu, tapi ia bersikap masa bodoh. Baginya keluarg Falucci adalah keluarga yang sangat menyenangkan. Masakan Nonny jauh lebih enak daripada masakan Me-Me, lalu paman-paman dan bibi-bibiny sering sekali menghadiahi Penny dengan berbagai barang. Tapi paman favorit Penny adalah Uncle Dominic, teman baiknya yang sama sama menyukai "Brooklyn Dodgers", tim baseball dari Brooklyn. Suatu ketika, Penny mengetahui bahwa ibunya kencan dengan Mr. Mulligan, pria pengantar susu.Ini membuat Penny marah, cemas dan takut. Marah karena ia merasa Ibunya telah mengkhianati Ayahnya, cemas dan takut karen Penny tidak mau siapapun menggantikan Ayahnya. Atau kalau memang harus digantikan, ia lebih suka Uncle Dominic yang menjadi ayahnya daripada Mr. Mulligan. Terlebih karena di rumahnya, Sang Ibu tidak pernah bercerita atau membahas seperti apa Ayahnya Penny, sedangkan di keluarga Falucci, nama Ayahnya masih sering disebut dan diceritakan. Meski tidak pernah ada satupun yang membahas bagaimana Ayahnya bisa meninggal. Cerita tentang keluarga yang menyenangkan untuk diikuti, terlebih karena dari dua budaya yang berbeda, Amerika dan Italia, memberikan saya pengalaman dan pengetahuan baru saat membacanya.Penny adalah seorang anak perempuan yang cekatan, cerdas dan berani. Cara berbicaranya ceplas ceplos tapi dia tahu bagaimana bersikap dalam suatu kondisi tertentu. Sifatnya Ramah dan sangat jelas terlihat bahw aia menyayangi keuarga besarnya, dan bangga memiliki mereka. Penny menghormati mendiang Ayahnya, meski ia selalu menyimpan tanya seperti apa Ayahnya dulu dan selalu senang jika ada kenalan atau saudaranya yang menceritakan tentang hidup Freddy, Ayahnya, kepada Penny. Cerita tentang Penny ini terinspirasi oleh kisah hidup Si Penulis. Ia yang juga memiliki darah Italia, menceritakan sedikit pengalamannya di sini, termasuk tentang beberapa detil dan latar cerita yang terjadi setelah Perang Dunia II. Selama PD II, Presiden Roosevelt mengeluarkan maklumat yang berhubungan dengan warga Italia atau disebut “enemy aliens”. Mereka yang belum berpindah kewarganegaraan menjadi warga Amerika, dilarang memiliki benda-benda informatif seperti radio, kamera, senjata atau senter. Pun jika mereka telah lama tinggal dan menjadi orang Amerika pun, masih sering dicurigai dan dimata-matai. Novel yang mendapatkan Newbery Honor tahun 2007 ini pas dibaca sebagai bacaan ringan pun oleh anak-anak yang menginjak remaja sebagai pelajaran berharga tentang keluarga dan kejujuran. :)
Newbery Honor-winning Author Jennifer Holm’s novel, Penny from Heaven, is historically accurate and full of details that guides the adult reader happily down memory lane. Ms. Holm based her story on her Italian grandparents’ lives and interviews with historian Lawrence DiStaci. Sources consulted are listed in the acknowledgements, and in the last pages of her work, Ms. Holm includes a well-done family photo album. Unfortunately, as a novel with an elementary-school-aged target audience, the story misses the mark. The cover design, featuring Craig Nelson’s 1950’s style painting of Penny and Frankie, seems generic and dated. The characters are well developed, and the setting paints a realistic picture of New Jersey life in 1953. Engaging and witty dialogue brings smiles to the reader’s face as she easily relates to the events of daily life. However, the plodding plot would not capture the interest of most young readers. The storyline follows Penny and Frankie around town, sometimes getting into mischief, and sometimes talking about comic books and crime novels. The first person narrative relies solely on context clues to define items that today’s child might not be familiar with. “[Me-me] got it into her head to give me a Toni home perm at the beginning of summer.” Other references to commonplace occurrences such as doing laundry on a wringer washer and listening to the Dodgers on a shortwave radio are key foreshadowing elements to the story, which will be missed if the reader doesn’t understand their importance in every day 1950’s life. Chapters are often disconnected from each other as Penny moves between her two family units. “Freddy, so wrong, what happen to my boy. Those bad men. Non è giusto. Non è giusto.” Even though Penny is not told how her father died, her grandmother’s sadness and the air of mystery surrounding the death of Penny’s father is not developed clearly enough in the novel. Penny’s self-realization and the way she comes to grip with who she is becoming as a person is perceptive. Another redeeming quality of this novel is that it reveals a well-hidden piece of history regarding the evacuation and limitations placed on Italian Americans during the post-World War II era. in one of the closing chapters Penny’s mother explains, “All of a sudden everyone was suspicious of foreigners…If you were Italian…you couldn’t have radios with a shortwave band, or flashlights, or cameras, or I don’t know what else.” The ardent student of American history will enjoy this peek into 1950s life, but the average elementary-aged child will find this book to be lackluster and difficult to finish.Reviewed by Jean L.
What do You think about Penny From Heaven (2006)?
Penny from Heaven takes place in the early 1950's and follows eleven-year-old Penny who is grappling with a divide in her family. Her father died when she was young, and she currently lives with her mother and maternal grandparents. However, she spends a great deal of time with her extended family on her paternal side. She loves their boisterous personalities, her Nonny's cooking and her sometimes sneaky cousin Frankie. Penny is desperate to find out more about her father and the circumstances of his death, but is not getting many answers. Eventually, an event occurs that forces her to mature and helps her uncover more about her family's past. This was an interesting read, and perhaps one that students of large families or fractured families could relate to. There were elements of the time period peppered throughout the story, such as fears of polio, how Italian Americans were treated after WWII the general effects of war on families. I would not use this book to explicitly teach about this time period, but it would be a good supplemental read or a good recommendation for students who enjoy historical fiction.
—Elizabeth Westlund
This is a classic children's fiction novel, one that quietly and eloquently gives us a snapshot of what it is like growing up in an Italian American family living in Brooklyn just after World War II. Based upon the author's own family, we are introduced to eleven-year-old Penny, whose father has died mysteriously during the war. He was not a soldier, so all Penny knows is that he became sick and died. Although both sides of Penny's family love her, she must often walk a tightrope between her father's Italian American relatives and her mother's "plain old American" family. Penny doesn't want to choose sides. She loves all her eccentric relatives, including a homeless uncle who lives in a car and a burping, farting grandpa. She also loves going on adventures with her troublemaker cousin, Frankie.This novel is most definitely for those who enjoy characters in fiction. The story moves slowly and takes it's time. Kids who like high action fiction may have trouble with this one at first, but they should stick with it, as it is a rewarding book to read.
—Jan
I enjoyed learning about Penny's two families. Penny's father has died and no one in her family has ever told her the real reason how. The book begins by explaining how Penny was given her name. "I think about Heaven a lot. Not because of the usual reason, 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."She spends Sundays with her father's family enjoying the typical Italian feast. When her mother begins dating the milkman she fears her life will change. She loves the attention she receives from her father's family who treat her like a princess. The story continues sharing stories about Penny's everyday life. I don't believe there will be a climax to the story but there is, an unexpected one, near the end. Penny finally learns the truth about her father's death and accepts life is full of changes.
—Katina
