Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-This book introduces American coins and paper money in a clear and entertaining way. A group of children from a variety of ethnic backgrounds is hard at work earning money, saving, and planning for a neighborhood clubhouse. Readers see the purchasing power of the different coins and bills in terms of nails, screws, marking pencils, sandpaper, and other building supplies. They also view different ways that coins can be combined to equal a nickel, dime, quarter, dollar, etc. Children will have fun counting the coins and guessing what the next coin or bill will be. The text is well paced, and the layout is attractive, although occasionally busy. The colorful, average-quality, computer-generated cartoons have child appeal. The scanned images of coins and bills are accurate, and an author's note provides information about less-common currency and recent monetary changes. Although not a necessary purchase, libraries that need more age-appropriate books about money may want to consider this one, and teachers might find it a useful resource.-Barbara Katz, Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Five snub-nosed, rosy-cheeked children are in hot pursuit of enough cash to build a clubhouse. The text is mum on their moneymaking schemes, allowing McMahon's amusing digital illustrations to reveal all their entrepreneurial efforts (recycling bottles, selling lemonade, etc.). As the kids trade five pennies for a nickel and so on, readers learn the values and equivalencies of different coins and bills. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Five children get busy earning funds to build a clubhouse in this primer on U.S. currency. Starting with a penny--good for "a perfect penny nail"--they pool resources as they industriously gather recyclable bottles, set up a lemonade stand and more; each project escalates the income, from a nickel to a dime to a quarter to, ultimately, a $100 bill. McMahon's cartoons depict not only a cadre of boisterous young entrepreneurs laboring in a sunny suburban setting, but the front and back of each coin or bill, plus views of the hardware or other supplies that each would buy. These values may be already behind the inflationary times, but the designs are current enough to include the new fiver, and the clubhouse does get built. Robinson closes with notes on both how our money's look changes regularly and also on skipped denominations: the 50-cent piece; the $1 coin and the $2 bill. Promoting the rewards of work along with exposing readers to the look and uses of money, plus a bit of arithmetic, this makes salutary reading on more than one level. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
