Hellllllo readers, hope you’re well and have had a wonderfully bookish week. I have a children’s book to review for you today and it’s been a little while since I’ve reviewed this type of book but I’m super excited. Without further waffling onto le review.

 Dina Marie Filippini lives in New York and has three children. She has participated in the Gotham Writers’ Workshop in New York City, and this is her first children’s book. Having picked up her fair share of misplaced coins, one day she stopped to consider where a particular penny had come from—and her children’s story The Adventures of Precious Penny was born. Now, when she spots a penny on the ground she often wonders about its backstory.

I’ve mentioned this before and will probably mention it again, children’s books are so important in creating future readers, learners and creaters; it all starts here. I’ve read a lot of children’s book and I think this is a really interesting concept; we follow the life of Precious Penny as she makes her way from the safe haven of the bank into the sticky pockets of young children into dark and cold puddles, with a little bit of sandpit adventure on the way. As she travels through the various different situations Polly reminisces about the pennies and other coins she has met and the adventures she has had; jumping in puddles, running, skipping and singing in the car.

In terms of writing I think it’s the perfect text style for readers aged 6/7+ but could be easily used by parents to read to younger children. Although there is a larger amount of text than normally seen in children’s books it’s not unrealistic in terms of engaging a child. There’s just enough but not too much. The images are beautifully created and styled. They have bright colours, and they are a mix of realism in the drawing of the coins but the illustrations of the children are fantasy and cartoon it’s beautiful to look at and I can imagine this becoming a child’s favourite book to pick out of the shelf and had read to them.

The story doesn’t tell a moral as such but I think it would teach children to think about the little things. To remember that there is a story about everything, that we should treasure the small things; I had never thought of the adventures the coins we use everyday go through but here it has been woven into an interesting and telling tale. It also tells of friendship, of keeping strong through difficult and lonely times and things will get better. You may think this is too much for a children’s book but it’s done subtly, and in a sweet understandable way.

Overall this is a beautiful book, one that has not only an original storyline but is beautifully produced. I think the ideas are good, I would have liked more of a moral woven in but it is a sweet story. Definitely worth a buy for a lovely bedtime story.

Linnnnnks

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