Starred Review ALA Booklist

Starred Review From the moment he is first stamped out at the U.S. mint, George the quarter has a busy day, which he relates in first-person narrative. After delivery to a bank, he travels to a grocery store, where he is given in change to a lady riding a motorized cart, who uses him to purchase a balloon from a clown, who puts him in a pop machine, and so on, until he eventually winds up safely back in the bank. Leedy includes a good deal of information, while keeping the book light, energetic, and entertaining. The book design is inventive: George is represented by the photo of a shiny new quarter; the world around him is in cartoon-style art with several scenes to a page; and page numbers are represented by coins and bills (there's even a little math along the way--page 19 is 4 nickels minus a penny). Other clever details add to the fun. There's a glossary as well as information at back about such related topic as bartering and the 50-state quarter program. A lot of kids in the book's target age group are curious about this aspect of money; Leedy gives them answers while she entertains.

Horn Book

This introduction to everyday economics is narrated by George Washington as he appears on a freshly minted quarter. Throughout the course of one day, George is handed out as change at a store, dropped into a vending machine, placed in a piggy bank, etc. Leedy's cartoonlike illustrations feature images of wisecracking and punning coins. A final section provides some facts about money. Glos.

Kirkus Reviews

A newly minted quarter rolls out into the wide world in this lighthearted travelogue from the author of Mapping Penny's World (2000). It's a bumpy ride for "George," as he's trucked to a bank, dropped into an alternating series of cash registers and pockets while being used to buy food, toys, pets, and plants, repeatedly lost and found, given to charity, used to pay a debt, and finally returned to the bank in a savings-account deposit. Undaunted, he's ready for more: "I wonder where I'll go tomorrow?" Along the way, he meets other denominations ("Just call me Abe"), and figures prominently in plenty of adding and subtracting while helping to make purchases or change. Leedy mixes images of actual bills and coins into her simply drawn cartoons (page numbers are in currency) and discourses on history, design, and the "50 States Quarters" program too; child readers will never look at their pocket change—or arithmetic, for that matter—in quite the same way. (afterword, glossary) (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

A freshly minted quarter chattily narrates Leedy's (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">The Furry News: How to Make a Newspaper) lively look at currency. "Ouch!" complains George as he is stamped at the mint; "Let me out of here!" he yells as the bag holding him and other coins gets loaded onto a truck bound for the Federal Reserve Bank. The quarter's next stop is a local bank, after which his itinerary includes brief stops at a grocery store, a vending machine, a boy's piggy bank and the cash registers of various merchants. Several additional misadventures would flip out any self-respecting coin: George rolls close to a storm drain and, forgotten in another owner's pocket, tours a washing machine while chiming, "Money makes the world go round." Along the way, characters calculate the amounts of their purchases in stores and compute a weekly salary, among other math exercises. Playful mixed-media art, flippant asides from George and other coins, and occasional puns add to the lighthearted tone. An endnote relates ideas and facts about money. Ages 4-8. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Mar.)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-A day in the life of a newly minted quarter, featuring George Washington sporting a rose-colored hair ribbon. The coin has quite an adventurous day; from the Federal Reserve, it makes its way to a local bank where it is picked up by a grocer for his store. The escapade continues-George ends up in such diverse places as a soda machine, piggy bank, toy store, parking meter, pet store, clothes washer, and garage sale, and finally back to the bank. Whew! Along the way, math problems flow naturally through the drama. Checking out at the market, the customer's total comes to $19.75. The audience is persuaded to figure out that the change from a $20 bill equals 25 cents. And so on. Leedy does not worry over bothersome details like sales taxes. Other coins and paper bills are briefly introduced. A "More About Money" section and a list of money words are appended. Leedy's sense of humor, fun, and the absurd shine through here. The large type is all over the place with dialogue and thought balloons and text vying for readers' attention. Cartoon illustrations keep the plot moving along at a steady clip. This is a wonderfully amusing, inviting, and useful title.-Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.