In this cheerful book, a boy tells about an interest he shares with his dad: coin collecting. They look at change from the grocery store, fill a fishbowl with assorted coins, and sort them by size and face value. But along the way, the boy absorbs information about the coins in past times and civilizations, the manufacture of modern coins, and how our currency spotlights people, places, and events in American history. Throughout the book, text shares the pages with brightly colored, mixed-media artwork, captions, and speech or thought balloons. Photos of common coins appear in boxes along with a little information, and the backs of the state quarters appear on one double-page spread. The appended author's note suggests researching coins at the library and recommends a few books and a website for children. With an upbeat tone and plenty of interesting facts, this is a fine introduction to coin collecting for young children.

A boy talks about his father's coin collection and what he and Dad have learned in pursuit of this hobby. Friendly text discusses money's history, the U.S. mint, what coins are made of, the value of collected coins, some U.S. history, and games to play with spare change. The lively pages combine text, cartoonlike illustrations, and diagrams.

Reid's introduction to U.S. coins and coin collecting is comfy and encouraging though somewhat short on the history of our national coins, despite its talk of "a coin is a piece of history you can hold in your hand." The book's strongest suit is introducing coin collecting as a family activity. Through a narrative in which a boy and his father enjoy coins together, each of our everyday nickels and cents are introduced, and the personages, design motifs and symbolism explained. Kelly's light-handed yet vibrant and busy artwork keeps readers' attention on the page, even when the author veers into coin mathematics (which this story may well have skirted altogether or taken care of in one page rather than the half dozen it gets). Since this is a book primarily concerned with U.S. coinage, those pages could have been given over to their fascinating past, including state coins, gold coins, Indian Head pennies and the like. Fortunately, Reid devotes a whole page to the Fugio cent—Ben Franklin's penny—which is such a piece of whimsical delight, it might have kept the whole notion of money in some sensible perspective, if it had been left in circulation. (Picture book. 6-8)

Gr 2-4 In this superb introduction to the hobby, a boy explains that he and his dad have a coin collection and describes all the ways he likes to sort and arrange it. One page depicts interesting currency that has been used in the past, such as tobacco leaves, fishhooks, and dried fish, and another shows odd-shaped coins from around the world. Readers learn interesting tidbits about the value of coins, such as those that were double-stamped or the three-legged buffalo nickel, and they learn about coin equivalencies. In little asides, the boy and father share their enthusiasm while the youngster continues to relate interesting facts about the history of coins and their usage. The illustrations are clear, richly detailed, and brightly colored. This book would serve as a fine introduction for budding numismatists. Maggie Chase, Boise State University, ID