Pretty Penny Sets Up Shop

K-Gr 2—Every summer, Penny stays with her grandmother. Bunny owns a four-story apartment building with an attic on top that contains all of her "stuff." This visit, the six-year-old would like to have a birthday party for Bunny but doesn't have any money to do so, so she decides to sell her grandmother's treasures, with permission. She sorts and cleans and puts prices on all of the things in the attic for her "Small Mall." On sale day, many of the building's residents come to shop, and Penny takes in 10 dollars, but she knows it really belongs to Bunny. The older woman, of course, says that Penny earned the money and can keep it, and the child buys 10 cupcakes and invites the building's residents to her grandmother's apartment for a surprise party. Penny has a pet pig and her grandmother has a cat. Both slightly anthropomorphic animals appear on almost every page. Some of the illustrations are full spreads, but many are just two views per page of Penny preparing for her event. Overall, this money-management primer doesn't accomplish much.—Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI