Penny from Heaven — Jennifer L. Holm

“Uncle Dominic says the thing about a slider is that you never see it coming. It's the one pitch that can fool even the best batter.”

It's 1953, and eleven-year-old Penny's summer is turning out to be full of unpleasant surprises. Penny dreams of a summer of butter pecan ice cream, swimming, and baseball. But nothing's that simple. For starters, she can't go swimming because her mother's afraid she'll catch polio at the pool. To make matters worse, her favorite uncle is living in a car. Her nonny cries every time her father's name is mentioned. And the two sides of her family aren't speaking to each other!

On top of it all, Penny's mother is dating the milkman. When it rains it sure does rain, but Penny's learning that, like the song says ... even the darkest clouds may contain pennies from heaven.