Chapter book # 14

 Title: Penny from Heaven

Author: Jennifer L. Holm
Illustrator: N/A

 Genre: Chapter Book/ realistic fiction
Subgenre: realistic fiction

 Theme:family history, mother daughter issues, family issues,

 Primary and Secondary characters: Penny and secondary: her mother, uncle, he milkman, and Nonny
Awards, date of publication: 2006, Newbery Honor (2007), Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award Nominee (2009)

Publishing company: Random House Books for Young Readers

Summary and how you would use this book in the classroom: Penny doesn't have a father, but she has the next best thing which is a gigantic Italian-American family with more uncles than she can count and more love than she knows what to do with. After her father's death, her mother and grandparents do not mingle with her dad's crew and vice-versa. Now Penny's about to turn twelve and all sorts of interesting things are happening. She's beginning to notice boys and to chafe under her mother's overprotective nature. She has a summer job and is getting into more and more trouble with her cousin Frankie. Her dog dies, her hair gets paint stuck in it, and her mother has started to date the least cool fellow in the world: the milkman. When Penny gets involved in a particularly gruesome accident, however, she begins to learn the truth behind her father's mysterious death and to learn a little more about the people who love her so much. This book could be used to to show kids that not all families grow up with all parents. It can be used to show that you can still find good even with bad circumstances. It also shows that you do not always have to have the coolest life to fit in, sometimes the simple things are better.