Dear Middle School Students of Sacred Heart,
You all have a had an eventful year full of learning and fun. Now, it is time to relax and enjoy summer,
but you should still keep yourselves learning and having fun. Reading is one way in which to cover
both.
Attached, please find your required summer reading novel and project. The book and assignment is to
be completed for class activities and discussion when we return to school.
Two additional books will be required for you to enjoy along with an analysis of each story. Those will
be handed in to your reading teacher for assessment purposes only.
Below, please find a list of suggested titles for two additional books that will be required for you to
enjoy, along with a short analysis of each story. The titles are merely a suggestion; feel free to explore
titles of your own choosing. For one of the additional books, map out the plot line of the story: setting,
characters, events, climax, and resolution. With the other chosen book you are asked to write a poem
based on the protagonist, main character, of the novel. The template for each assignment is attached.
Enjoy, and may God bless you with a restful, relaxing summer.
Ms. Paula Heberling
Mrs. Jayne Lang
Adventure Stories:
Hunger Games
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Julie of the Wolves
Dogsong
Homecoming
Collins
Doyle
George
Paulsen
Voigt
Animal Stories:
Hoot
Ereth's Birthday
Rascal
The One and Only Ivan
Hiaasen
Avi
North
Applegate
Classic Stories:
Little Women
Peter Pan
Secret Garden
Count of Monte Cristo
Jungle Book
Anne of Green Gables
Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Alcott
Barrie
Burnett
Dumas
Kipling
Montgomery
Smith
Friend/Relationship Stories:
Sounder
Hope was Here
Tiger Eyes
Armstrong
Bauer
Blume
Al Capone Does My Shirts
Other Bells for Us to Ring
Whirligig
My Louisiana Sky
Missing May
Holes
Wringer
Choldenko
Cormier
Fleischman
Holt
Rylant
Sacher
Spinelli
Fantasy Stories:
Last Years of Merlin
Artemis Fowl
Great and Terrible Beauty
City of Ember
Inkheart
Wrinkle in Time
Gifts
Barron
Colfer
Bray
DuPrau
Funke
L'Engle
Le Guin
Historical Fiction Stories
Crispin: The Cross of Lead
Dovie Coe
Lily's Crossing
Our only May Amelia
Across Five Aprils
Letters from a Slave Girl
Harriet Tubman
When You Reach Me
Amos Fortune, Free Man
Avi
Dowell
Giff
Holm
Hunt
Lyons
Petry
Stead
Yates
Mystery:
Curse Dark as Gold
Court of the Stone Children
Trouble with Lemons
Westing Game
39 Clues
Calendar Papers
Bounce
Cameron
Hayes
Raskin
Riordan
Voigt
Science Fiction Stories:
Fantastic Voyage
Martian Chronicles
Z for Zachariah
The Secret Hour
Asimov
Bradbury
O'Brien
Westerfield
Penny from Heaven (2006)by Jennifer L. Holm
1953, Penny wants nothing more this summer than to eat
butter-pecan ice cream, go swimming, and listen to baseball
games on the radio. Her summer does not go according to
her plans. In fact, nothing in her life goes according to her
plans.
This Newbery Honor book by Jennifer L. Holm will take you
back to a time historically when being of a certain heritage
meant you were an enemy of America. Penny from Heaven
will also take you a time when you can personally experience
an everyday become an extraordinary day.
Discussion Questions: These need not be formally answered, just use the following
questions to focus your reading. Simply place your answers on Post-It notes and keep them
inside your copy of the book to be used during class, literature discussions. Please feel free to
add discussion topics and or questions of your own.
1. Why is Barbara Jean called Penny?
2. Who gave her the nickname?
3. Which name does Penny prefer to believe her true name? Why?
4. Penny has an idea of what Heaven is. Does that impression change throughout the
story?
5. By the story's end, how close is life to the heaven she imagines?
6. Where is Penny's father?
7. How and when does Penny finally learn the truth about what happened to her father?
8. Who gives her the most details about her father, and do they change the way she
views life?
9. What accident does Penny have, and who is to blame?
10. Describe Penny's mother's side of the family?
11. What are two words to describe Penny's mother? Why did you choose those two
particular words?
12. If Penny is our protagonist, the character who is considered a key “player”, we root for
her, who/what might be her antagonist?
13. Describe Penny in five words.
14. How do you feel about Uncle Dominic? Would you want an Uncle Dominic?
15. What is the importance of the Brooklyn Dodgers and butter-pecan ice cream?
Once you have finished reading Penny from Heaven, I would like you to take on the role of
Barbara Jean, Penny. I would like you to make a scrapbook about her life the summer of
1953 in which the book is set. This scrapbook should look like a real scrapbook. It must
include actual memorabilia: pictures, awards, letters, ticket stubs, report cards, pressed
flowers, anything that would spark a memory for Penny and bring her back to this summer
once she is older. You must have at least fifteen pieces of memorabilia with a note
underneath each explaining its importance. Remember, you are Penny, so the tags under
each piece of memorabilia must be written from a first-person perspective.
On the first page of the scrapbook, please include the title of the book, the author's name, and
your name.
I hope you enjoy this novel, Penny from Heaven, as much as I did!
Ms. Paula Heberling