PENNY FROM HEAVEN by Jennifer L. Holm

I enjoyed this book for many of the same reason's why I enjoyed Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata. It shares a little bit of American history with the reader. I was not aware that Italian Americans were also rounded up--not to the same degree as the Japanese--and taken away from their families during WWII and many possessions, like radios, were taken away also.

It is interesting that all these years later, the California legislature has passed a resolution to finally honor the families whose children served in the war while their rights were taken away at home.

This is told in first person, present tense which brings the intimacy I enjoy when I read a family-dynamics type of novel. The emotions and actions of the characters are believable which, in my opinion, was one the reasons this book one a Newbery Honor in 2007.