One Proud Penny

If, like this reviewer, you have stopped picking up pennies from the ground because they seem simply too far away, this book may make you think again before passing one by. While some facts about our smallest unit of currency are adroitly dropped into the text ("Most of us move around for twenty-five years or so before retiring"), the focus here is on one particular penny, "born" in 1983, who describes its journey back and forth across the country into various places and pockets and even an unfortunate sojourn "underneath the stamp machine in a post office near Pepper Pike, Ohio, where I sat for three whole weeks." You really come to feel for the little traveler, who is pictured as an actual photographed penny against airy and appropriately humble line-and-wash sketches. Appended with "A Brief History of U.S. Coins," "Interesting Facts About Pennies," and a list of additional resources. roger sutton