No Small Change
John Luksetich
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2005 Imagine Nation Press
ISBN: 0940411016

An eye-opening story about money, counting & mystery.

Wildly illustrated by Patti Kern, No Small Change tells of when Sergio threw away a few pennies he'd been given, telling his father he'd done it because “pennies are worthless.” Little did he know!

So when the Royal Rulers (silver half dollars) tell Peasant Penny that pennies make “no cents”, she sets out to prove them wrong.

A strange & “cheerful” teaching book -- the media release uses that word, I, however, was a shade disturbed by the darkness of the illustrations & the “medieval” setting to this money math story. I suppose I had read to me too many dark Victorian stories ala Brothers Grimm, in my childhood. It also reminded me a bit of the game of chess.

Nonetheless, No Small Change certainly is a lively tale about the power of money, teaching readers to count &, perhaps subconsciously, the value of every single little person...er... penny.

For readers 4-8 years old.
(04/09/06)

Rebecca