Lost in the City is a 1992 collection of short stories about African-American life in Washington, D.C., by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward P. Jones.

Penny, the grocer, is introduced in "The Store," in Lost in the City, and she shows up in the title story of All Aunt Hagar's Children.

The story opens with her describing how she gets ready by drawing a picture of the style of her hair and the outfit she wears including her new shoes that she loves.

The story ends with the five-year-old girl listening to her mother's footsteps as she walks away.

When reading the story, the author stresses the value of education through the amount of effort the family and the community put into the first day of school.