Books like Penny from heaven by Jennifer L. Holm
Set in 1953, "Penny from Heaven" follows 11‑year‑old Penny as she yearns for a simple summer of ice cream, swimming, and baseball. Her plans are hampered by her mother’s fear of polio, an uncle living in a car, and a family that has fallen into silence after the death of Penny’s father. The novel explores the challenges of being Italian American in a time when prejudice could isolate a family, and it ultimately celebrates the strength of family bonds and the joy of Sunday dinners at Nonny’s house. Inspired by author Jennifer L. Holm’s own experiences, the story blends historical detail with heartfelt family dynamics.
First publish date: 2006
Genre: Historical Fiction/20th Century Historical Fiction
Authors: Jennifer L. Holm
★
★
★
★
★
5.0 (2 community ratings)
How are these books recommended?
The books recommended for Penny from heaven by Jennifer L. Holm are shaped by reader interaction. Votes on how closely books relate, user ratings, and community comments all help refine these recommendations and highlight books readers genuinely find similar in theme, ideas, and overall reading experience.
Have you read any of these books?
Your votes, ratings, and comments help improve recommendations and make it easier
for other readers to discover books they’ll enjoy.
Books similar to Penny from heaven (24 similar books)
The beloved classic of American literature, Little Women, narrates the adventures of four March sisters as they grow up during the Civil War era.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
When ten‑year‑old Opal arrives in Naomi, Florida, she discovers friendship, community, and the healing power of a big ugly dog named Winn‑Dixie during her first summer in town.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Ivan, a gorilla who has lived behind glass in a shopping‑mall circus for 27 years, learns new meaning for art and friendship when a baby elephant named Ruby arrives.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A nine‑year‑old girl named Ada escapes her abusive home amid World War II, joining her brother in London’s evacuation; she learns to ride a pony, reads, and finds a new family with Susan Smith while watching for German spies.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
After an October blizzard, Laura's family retreats from their claim shanty to the nearby town, confronting a harsh winter that a Sioux Indian prophesied will last seven months of relentless bad weather.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
The Ingalls family leaves debt‑ridden Minnesota, with Mary now blind, to seek new opportunities. Pa works for a railroad in Dakota Territory, then brings his wife and children to become pioneers in the nascent town of De Smet.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
El Deafo is a graphic novel by Cece Bell that follows a young girl who loses her hearing, learns to navigate the world with a hearing aid, and finds new friendships through humor and creativity.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Laura and her family settle in Minnesota, living first in a dugout before a new house is built, while enduring floods, blizzards, and grasshopper infestations.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Laura Ingalls Wilder returns to the dusty plains of Kansas in "Little Town on the Prairie," chronicling her boyhood in a frontier town, the rhythms of family life, and the challenges of growing up on the American frontier.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
An African‑American family from Flint, Michigan, heads south to visit Grandma in Birmingham, Alabama, where the ordinary rhythms of their lives are disrupted by the events of the summer of 1963.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Set in 19th‑century South Dakota, Laura Ingalls Wilder balances teaching, family life, and the budding courtship with her future husband Almanzo, while shaping her future and that of her children.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
When Laura Ingalls and her family leave Wisconsin, they trek west to Kansas Territory, settle on the prairie, and begin a new life—only to be drawn into a dangerous conflict.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A 12‑year‑old boy named Moose relocates to Alcatraz Island in 1935 with his family, where the guards’ families live in the prison’s residential quarters. He must navigate the island’s unique setting while caring for his autistic sister.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
During the 1947 Partition of India, twelve‑year‑old Nisha flees with her Hindu family and logs her experiences in a diary, writing to her late Muslim mother as the world crumbles around her.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
When her adoptive parents die, twelve‑year‑old genius Willow Chance must navigate grief, diagnosis, and a new surrogate family while staying true to her obsessive love of nature and counting by sevens.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
At eleven, Calpurnia Tate explores Texas nature, learns about insects with her skeptical grandfather, and discovers what it means to grow up and be a girl in 1899.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Three children linked across time by a mysterious harmonica face family‑sacrifice and destiny‑bound quests in the forbidden forest, Germany, Pennsylvania, and California.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Lord Randolph, a gambling‑driven gentleman of the Regency era, must care for his daughter Penny when she unexpectedly visits, while his fondness for his childhood friend Lady Bess complicates the family dynamic.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A coming-of-age story of a young girl who struggles with family secrets and the consequences of her family's wartime history in Florida, set against the backdrop of World War II and involving a secret love affair with a returning soldier and a stepfather who is fighting in the war, revealing the devastating impact of these events on the lives of the characters and their families.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Heaven or horror? Penny Padroni left the city and bought a country house, ugly and decrepit though it was, so that she could budge her fiance, Arthur Westbrook, out of his mother's apartment. It worked for a while, but the more she saw Arthur, the more she saw of his mother too. Mrs. Westbrook tried to take over and redesign Penny's house to suit her own tastes. This, in turn, led to clashes between Penny and Arthur, and to Penny's eventually turning to her handsome neighbor, Cork Corbett, for help with her domestic as well as romantic problems. Would Cork take Arthur's place in Penny's life, or would her old love win out? Would Penny's house become a heaven or a horror for her?
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In a city where magic is a scarce resource, a boy named Conn becomes an unlikely wizard apprentice and sets out to find his own locus stone while uncovering the mystery of the city’s disappearing magic.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
When 12‑year‑old Catherine, who feels trapped caring for her autistic brother, meets a young paraplegic, her ordinary life turns unexpectedly hopeful and full of new friendship.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A 10‑year‑old Louisa May Alcott and her family journey to the 1843 Massachusetts experiment Fruitlands, chronicling their utopian hopes and daily trials through shared and secret diaries.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Some Other Similar Books
Smiler's Fair by Rebecca ElliottHave a similar book in mind? Let others know!
Please login to submit books!