Coin Count-y: A Bank in a Book

Elizabeth Levin is a professor of psychology at Laurentian University.

This is not a book that one buys for the story. Rather it is a piggybank
in book form for five- to nine-year-olds. Each page in the book contains
slots for saving coins, including slots for loonies and toonies. Cowboy
Dollar Bill guides the reader on the path of savings from the Penny
Candy Store to the Dollar Roundup, stopping at the Five and Ten to show
how to save for different purchases.

In addition to emphasizing saving, the book reinforces some basic money
skills: for example, pennies are clustered into amounts such as nickels,
dimes, and quarters, and different combinations of coins are shown as
being equivalent (two dimes and a nickel or five nickels are shown to
equal a quarter). If all the slots are filled, a little over $31.00 is
saved, and each page shows in very fine print the amount saved to date.
The book’s colorful illustrations and sturdy pages should be able to
withstand several coin insertions and removals. The text is a bit corny,
but if you are looking for a way to encourage a young child to save,
this bank in a book is a good choice. Recommended.