Penny: The Forgotten Coin

3.5 Stars, Rounded Up

On the surface, this is a story about a penny's journey through life - from a piggy bank to a penny dish to a Red Cross donation to the ground where a boy picks her up. The other items in the boy's pocket taunt her for being useless, but she cheers herself up by remembering all the valuable things she can do (most of them charitable, since pennies have unfortunately little capitalistic value these days). Thus, this is a story about self-worth and how everyone's role in the universe is important.

Beneath the surface, this is an educational book with somewhat densely-packed writing explaining the history and other such trivia of pennies. It also has a touch of editorialism with regards to whether pennies should be discontinued, but doesn't dwell on that.

I thought it was a fairly cute story and I learned a couple things I didn't already know from school. Not sure how much kids would like it, though.