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Penny #2
Penny and Her Song
When Penny comes home from school, she is ready to sing her song. But the babies are sleeping, and Mama and Papa are worried that Penny will wake them up. Oh, but it is a good song, a really wonderful song . . . and Penny wants more than anything to sing it.
What do you think will happen?
What do you think will happen?
32 pages, Hardcover
First published February 28, 2012
About the author
Kevin Henkes
161 books1,232 followersKevin Henkes is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. As an illustrator he won the Caldecott Medal for Kitten's First Full Moon (2004). Two of his books were Newbery Medal Honor Books, Olive's Ocean in 2004 and The Year of Billy Miller in 2014. His picture book Waiting was named both a 2016 Caldecott Honor Book and a Geisel Honor Book. It was only the second time any author has won that combination of awards.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 192 reviews
October 5, 2022
Read for my toddler's bedtime. Mouse wants to sing her song but her parents afraid babies will wake up but actually her song puts them to sleep.
May 3, 2012
After my first reading I gave this book 3 stars. I have now read this book to my daughter close to 100 times and I now appreciate its brilliance.
Never underestimate the power of Kevin Henkes.
Never underestimate the power of Kevin Henkes.
February 21, 2021
Delightful kid's book!
June 18, 2012
Penny wants someone to listen to her song, but her parents keep telling her she'll "wake the babies". She is hurt and put-off just like any child would be, but her loving parents give her all the attention she needs as soon as those babies are awake. They even join in the fun, with happy results.
I was disappointed in this one, but for reasons that are admittedly unfair. I have to keep reminding myself that this is not a typical Kevin Henkes picture boook. Julius, the Baby of the World, Chrysanthemum, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Chester's Way--I love them. They have terrific illustrations, tremendous vocabulary, and even better humor. But much of the vocabulary and some of the humor is over the heads of kids, which makes the books just as much fun for adults as for the kids, who just like the story and ignore the jokes they don't understand.
Penny is different. She's a beginning reader. This format demands the vocabulary and humor be toned way, waaaay down. So the things I love most about Lilly and Chester and Victor and Wilson and Chrysanthemum must be left out. Darn it.
Despite my personal preferences, Kevin Henkes' choice to write for blossoming readers should be applauded. It seems there are fewer of these books published than any other type for kids. There's no way your average 1st and 2nd graders could sit down with Lilly and grasp the vocabulary, but they can understand Penny, and they'll benefit from knowing her. She is a little cutie who looks just like Sheila Rae's little sister Louise, if you ask me, (which no one did), and she is spirited (though not so spirited as Lilly, who stands far and above all others in the "spirited" category). I hope Henkes continues to write books for beginning readers--just as long as he'll throw us grown-ups a few Lilly- and Chrysanthemum-types in there occasionally, too.
I was disappointed in this one, but for reasons that are admittedly unfair. I have to keep reminding myself that this is not a typical Kevin Henkes picture boook. Julius, the Baby of the World, Chrysanthemum, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Chester's Way--I love them. They have terrific illustrations, tremendous vocabulary, and even better humor. But much of the vocabulary and some of the humor is over the heads of kids, which makes the books just as much fun for adults as for the kids, who just like the story and ignore the jokes they don't understand.
Penny is different. She's a beginning reader. This format demands the vocabulary and humor be toned way, waaaay down. So the things I love most about Lilly and Chester and Victor and Wilson and Chrysanthemum must be left out. Darn it.
Despite my personal preferences, Kevin Henkes' choice to write for blossoming readers should be applauded. It seems there are fewer of these books published than any other type for kids. There's no way your average 1st and 2nd graders could sit down with Lilly and grasp the vocabulary, but they can understand Penny, and they'll benefit from knowing her. She is a little cutie who looks just like Sheila Rae's little sister Louise, if you ask me, (which no one did), and she is spirited (though not so spirited as Lilly, who stands far and above all others in the "spirited" category). I hope Henkes continues to write books for beginning readers--just as long as he'll throw us grown-ups a few Lilly- and Chrysanthemum-types in there occasionally, too.
June 2, 2020
In this book Penny Sings her Song. Read the book and you will know Penny's song.
THANK YOU FOR SEEING THIS REVIEW.
THANK YOU FOR SEEING THIS REVIEW.
March 17, 2012
I don't love, love, love every book Kevin Henkes writes. Some of his books aren't quite up to what I expect from him. But Penny and Her Song, for me, is one of his best! (Perhaps just needing some time before becoming as beloved as his classic picture books, Chrysanthemum and Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and Owen.)
It begins
Penny came home from school with a song.
"Listen, Mama," said Penny. "It's my very own song."
Penny started to sing,
"One is nice--"
"Your song is beautiful, said Mama, "but you will wake up the babies."
From the very start, I just LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Penny. I did. I loved her energy, her perseverance. She has a SONG TO SING...and she wants to SING until she's heard. She will find an audience, she will, she will. She just has to!
I also loved the family dynamics of this one. While the Mom and Dad aren't exactly thrilled with the exuberant singing--the timing of it--they are very good, very sweet in their own way, in their own time. There's a time to sing, and a time to be quiet...after all.
This one is told in two very short chapters. I'd definitely recommend this one!!!
It begins
Penny came home from school with a song.
"Listen, Mama," said Penny. "It's my very own song."
Penny started to sing,
"One is nice--"
"Your song is beautiful, said Mama, "but you will wake up the babies."
From the very start, I just LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Penny. I did. I loved her energy, her perseverance. She has a SONG TO SING...and she wants to SING until she's heard. She will find an audience, she will, she will. She just has to!
I also loved the family dynamics of this one. While the Mom and Dad aren't exactly thrilled with the exuberant singing--the timing of it--they are very good, very sweet in their own way, in their own time. There's a time to sing, and a time to be quiet...after all.
This one is told in two very short chapters. I'd definitely recommend this one!!!
July 16, 2015
I give this book 100 stars.
I liked Penny and Her Song. I liked it when she sung her song. I didn't like it when her parents told her not to wake the babies. I would tell my friends to read Penny and Her Song.
I liked Penny and Her Song. I liked it when she sung her song. I didn't like it when her parents told her not to wake the babies. I would tell my friends to read Penny and Her Song.
March 26, 2022
Very cute illustrations and pleasant, authentic family characters.
I admit I found it a bit boring (and I think would have as a child also) but other kids like quieter things than I, and it did seem well structured as a beginning reader.
I admit I found it a bit boring (and I think would have as a child also) but other kids like quieter things than I, and it did seem well structured as a beginning reader.
November 18, 2020
My daughters love this story and I always enjoy reading it. I don't often sing, but this book gets me singing everytime.
October 11, 2019
I love Kevin Henkes picture books. This is more of an early reader book but contains the same lovely illustrations and charm of his delightful picture books.
March 20, 2012
Richie’s Picks: PENNY AND HER SONG by Kevin Henkes, Greenwillow, February 2012, 32p., ISBN: 978-0-06-208195-7
“I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him and listen for a while”
-- Fox/Gimbel, “Killing Me Softly”
“Living in today’s complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But there they are.”
-- The Firesign Theater, “We're All Bozos on this Bus”
How often do you find yourself with a song in your head? How often do you let one of these songs escape through your vocal cords and your mouth?
I don't know about you, but after all these decades of being exposed to a never-ending flood of music, in a manner never before experienced by humankind prior to our boomer generation, there always seems to be a song at the tip of my tongue, a virtual mental jukebox that is running pretty much all of my waking hours.
It makes me so happy to have all of this music buzzing around my head. Being a words person, I've always had a love for internalizing the lyrics that catch my ear. As I was telling a friend the other day, some in my community must think me somewhat deranged. I try to walk at least a few miles every day, and as I'm walking, I'm almost always singing. In fact, I've become accustomed to working on learning the words to songs while on my daily treks. I'll use the iPhone to google the lyrics to something for which I have the tune in my head, and then work on memorizing them as I'm heading around and beyond town. Or else, I’ll just be bopping along, not really thinking about it, but streaming a bunch of old favorites, one after another, after another, from brain recesses to oral cavity.
“The sounds just drift across my room
I wish this feeling I could share”
-- Justin Hayward, “The Actor”
The good feeling that music makes inside of me is something I began experiencing at a very young age, a combination of growing up with fifties and sixties radio from NYC, and participating in sing-alongs in nursery school and kindergarten. It was such a great experience that I made sure my kids could sing a hundred or more songs, including dozens of Beatles songs, long before they could read the lyrics.
This is all to say that I am a big fan of Kevin Henkes’s latest mouse book, in which a girl mouse named Penny arrives home from school with a song in her head.
“’Listen, Mama,’ said Penny. ‘It’s my very own song.’”
Unfortunately for the budding lyricist, Penny’s baby siblings are asleep at that moment and so Penny has to postpone performing her song until after baby naptime and after dinner. But then, Penny is given the opportunity to perform her song, to teach it to her parents and siblings and, then, to play dress up with her parents in preparation for a group performance in costume.
“Let there be songs to fill the air”
-- Hunter/Garcia, “Ripple”
PENNY AND HER SONG is, on its face, a simple little story. But if music is a major part of what makes you a happy person, what makes you feel alive – which is what it does for me every day – then you'll appreciate and want to share this tale about the joy of singing, of filling the air with songs.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_... http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...
“I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him and listen for a while”
-- Fox/Gimbel, “Killing Me Softly”
“Living in today’s complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But there they are.”
-- The Firesign Theater, “We're All Bozos on this Bus”
How often do you find yourself with a song in your head? How often do you let one of these songs escape through your vocal cords and your mouth?
I don't know about you, but after all these decades of being exposed to a never-ending flood of music, in a manner never before experienced by humankind prior to our boomer generation, there always seems to be a song at the tip of my tongue, a virtual mental jukebox that is running pretty much all of my waking hours.
It makes me so happy to have all of this music buzzing around my head. Being a words person, I've always had a love for internalizing the lyrics that catch my ear. As I was telling a friend the other day, some in my community must think me somewhat deranged. I try to walk at least a few miles every day, and as I'm walking, I'm almost always singing. In fact, I've become accustomed to working on learning the words to songs while on my daily treks. I'll use the iPhone to google the lyrics to something for which I have the tune in my head, and then work on memorizing them as I'm heading around and beyond town. Or else, I’ll just be bopping along, not really thinking about it, but streaming a bunch of old favorites, one after another, after another, from brain recesses to oral cavity.
“The sounds just drift across my room
I wish this feeling I could share”
-- Justin Hayward, “The Actor”
The good feeling that music makes inside of me is something I began experiencing at a very young age, a combination of growing up with fifties and sixties radio from NYC, and participating in sing-alongs in nursery school and kindergarten. It was such a great experience that I made sure my kids could sing a hundred or more songs, including dozens of Beatles songs, long before they could read the lyrics.
This is all to say that I am a big fan of Kevin Henkes’s latest mouse book, in which a girl mouse named Penny arrives home from school with a song in her head.
“’Listen, Mama,’ said Penny. ‘It’s my very own song.’”
Unfortunately for the budding lyricist, Penny’s baby siblings are asleep at that moment and so Penny has to postpone performing her song until after baby naptime and after dinner. But then, Penny is given the opportunity to perform her song, to teach it to her parents and siblings and, then, to play dress up with her parents in preparation for a group performance in costume.
“Let there be songs to fill the air”
-- Hunter/Garcia, “Ripple”
PENNY AND HER SONG is, on its face, a simple little story. But if music is a major part of what makes you a happy person, what makes you feel alive – which is what it does for me every day – then you'll appreciate and want to share this tale about the joy of singing, of filling the air with songs.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_... http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...
July 29, 2017
This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.
Though I think a lot of people and bookstores have called this book a picture book, it’s really an easy reader divided into short chapters. Penny is a mouse like Lilly, and Chrysanthemum, and Owen, but she doesn’t have a big life-changing problem. Rather, she comes home from school wanting to share her special song, and discovers she must wait because the babies are asleep. It’s difficult to wait, but well worth it, because when she does finally share her song, everyone in the family loves it - including those little babies.
The story reminded me immediately of Noisy Nora, but without the condescending older sister, and with a much less dramatic resolution. Penny is never brushed aside and ignored like Nora; rather, she waits patiently, and is ultimately rewarded with lots of positive attention from her parents for her creativity. The book is less a sibling rivalry story, and more of a celebration of joy, togetherness, and sharing simple moments with one’s family.
Though I think a lot of people and bookstores have called this book a picture book, it’s really an easy reader divided into short chapters. Penny is a mouse like Lilly, and Chrysanthemum, and Owen, but she doesn’t have a big life-changing problem. Rather, she comes home from school wanting to share her special song, and discovers she must wait because the babies are asleep. It’s difficult to wait, but well worth it, because when she does finally share her song, everyone in the family loves it - including those little babies.
The story reminded me immediately of Noisy Nora, but without the condescending older sister, and with a much less dramatic resolution. Penny is never brushed aside and ignored like Nora; rather, she waits patiently, and is ultimately rewarded with lots of positive attention from her parents for her creativity. The book is less a sibling rivalry story, and more of a celebration of joy, togetherness, and sharing simple moments with one’s family.
March 1, 2012
Joining the beloved Chrysanthemum, Lilly, Owen and Wemberly is a new mouse character from the incredible Kevin Henkes. This mouse is named Penny and she has a song to sing. Unfortunately when she gets home, the babies are sleeping and she’s not allowed to share her song with her mother or father. Later, she tries to share the song during dinner, but her parents ask her to wait until they are done eating to sing. Finally, after dinner, Penny shares her song. Her parents sing it too, they dress up in costumes, and the babies have a surprise reaction too!
Read the rest of my review on my blog, Waking Brain Cells.
Read the rest of my review on my blog, Waking Brain Cells.
October 13, 2013
Penny and Her Song by Kevin Henkes (2012)
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Format: Book
Plot summary: Penny wants to share the song she wrote but must practice patience for the right time to share it with her parents and siblings.
Considerations or precautions for readers advisory (strong language, sex, death, religious overtones, violence, etc.)" No special considerations
Review citation (if available)
Section source used to find the material: Children's Core Collection, Too-Good-to-Miss-Books: First Grade (MCPL Booklist)
Recommended age: Pre-K-2.
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Format: Book
Plot summary: Penny wants to share the song she wrote but must practice patience for the right time to share it with her parents and siblings.
Considerations or precautions for readers advisory (strong language, sex, death, religious overtones, violence, etc.)" No special considerations
Review citation (if available)
Section source used to find the material: Children's Core Collection, Too-Good-to-Miss-Books: First Grade (MCPL Booklist)
Recommended age: Pre-K-2.
February 28, 2012
Good early reader with an exuberant Penny.
June 26, 2018
7/18/17 Read with Naomi & Julia.
11/5/17 Read with Naomi & Julia.
6/26/18 Read with Julia.
11/5/17 Read with Naomi & Julia.
6/26/18 Read with Julia.
November 13, 2019
With it's repetitive language, predictive text and easy-to read short chapters, this book is a perfect choice for beginning readers. In the story, Penny's excitement to share a song that she learned at school is short-lived, for everyone in the household is too busy to listen to her song.
This is a great book for young readers of ages 4-6 years old, who are beginning to notice print and letter attributes; who are making phonological connections between groups of letters and the sounds that they make and who are beginning to notice sight words. This book is also excellent for introducing young readers to chapter books and to help children of ages 6-8 become independent and fluent readers.
This is a great book for young readers of ages 4-6 years old, who are beginning to notice print and letter attributes; who are making phonological connections between groups of letters and the sounds that they make and who are beginning to notice sight words. This book is also excellent for introducing young readers to chapter books and to help children of ages 6-8 become independent and fluent readers.
Read
May 5, 2020Penny and Her Song is a marvelous little chapter book/easy reader, a book that, in limited words and large font, allows Penny both her intense frustration (don't sing now, the babies are sleep!) and eventual triumph, when she gets to have a "concert" with her parents and even the babies, who make tiny baby noises.
Penny and Her Song isn't much of a chapter book, but it is a chapter book, and young readers will be triumphant to have finished one. Illustrations are engaging and compliment the text, which is pretty much always the case in Henkes works. It should be fun to read and as a read-aloud, and could spark discussions of the intense frustrations of being quiet for siblings and other such frustrations.
Penny and Her Song isn't much of a chapter book, but it is a chapter book, and young readers will be triumphant to have finished one. Illustrations are engaging and compliment the text, which is pretty much always the case in Henkes works. It should be fun to read and as a read-aloud, and could spark discussions of the intense frustrations of being quiet for siblings and other such frustrations.
May 23, 2017
This is another quality book for introducing the earliest essence of a chapter book. The concept of a young child seeking to show (or show off) a skill and having it not be the right time or setting is one that young children understand so well. A happy ending, of course, is the payoff. I agree with reviewers that say it is a better book than it appears at first reading. Henkes has hit some very good notes for his target audience while writing a quiet story. It will have a place in my First grade classroom library.
July 1, 2018
I am not particularly familiar with Kevin Henkes's creative works, but I read (and enjoyed) The Year of Billy Miller. I liked Penny and Her Song as well, and children will undoubtedly enjoy it! As a child, I know I liked stories about small animals, especially ones about mice!!
November 12, 2018
Good easy reader sort of picture book for around 1st to 2nd grade. Penny has come up with her own song and wants to sing it, but, the babies are sleeping and then it's dinner time and she has to wait.
Just one of those believable childhood experience type books where the child in question happens to be an animal.
Just one of those believable childhood experience type books where the child in question happens to be an animal.
November 30, 2018
The illustrations are in soft pastel colours and easy on the eye. The story is honestly just boring. Penny makes up her own song, and yes I may be tone deaf, but it still isn't a song that would catch on with the children in my classroom. It's not the type of book I'm going to rush out and retrieve from the library shelves to read to the class and it's mainly aimed at little girls.
August 9, 2025
This was a really fun book about Penny coming home wanting to sing but her parents don't want her to disturb the babies or them as they try to get things done. It is a bit about them getting stuck in their ways but realizing that it can be fun to sing and dance as a family. :D
Sending to Mhairi.
Sending to Mhairi.
November 9, 2020
That was really sweet! I love how it captured a child’s excitement at showing off to family members. I love how the family embraced her and ended up singing the song all together. There was such love between the family members. Adorable.
July 9, 2021
3 1/2-4 stars. Delightful beginning reader about a girl who makes up a song, wants to sing it for her parents, but has to wait until the babies wake up. Then they all join in the singing. I appreciate the loving family dynamics the author portrays in his stories.
January 14, 2023
Penny returns for another charming illustrated easy-reader book, Penny and Her Song. Just as sweet as the previous one! She learns about finding just the right time for a behavior or activity. Did she make up the song, or learn it at school? It's not the best song, but works fine for the story.
November 30, 2023
3.4
Penny wants to share her song with someone, anyone, anything ... and she does.
When reading this with a child, sing Penny's song to a catchy quick tune.
I'm betting children will like this story better than adults.
Penny wants to share her song with someone, anyone, anything ... and she does.
When reading this with a child, sing Penny's song to a catchy quick tune.
I'm betting children will like this story better than adults.
June 1, 2017
A good beginning reader about delayed gratification. Well done.
June 20, 2017
Cute story about family and counting. Penny is obedient to her parents even though she wanted something. Good moral story.
April 28, 2018
I had my daughter read this to me for her bedtime story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 192 reviews