Benny's Pennies: so many lessons in one book

I came upon Benny's Pennies when I was looking for a book to read to my daughter's preschool, I wanted to talk to them about giving to others.  At first I was happy to have found a preschool level book that touched on that subject but as we read it and I shared the book more talking to others about what we were doing at the school I realized that this book had so many lessons that we could (and did) tie into it.

This post will be a bit longer than most of my others, I hope you don't mind.  I want to share not only the review of Benny's Pennies but also all the lessons we've used from that book at home at in the preschool so that you can use them in your own way.

Benny's Pennies

Written by: Pat Brisson

Illustrated by Bob Barner

Copywrite: 1993

Published by Dragonfly Books

The illustrations you will notice right off aren't hand drawn, painting, or digital images that we are use to in many children's picture books.  There is a really need note in the begining of the book about how Bob Barner created the art used.  I found this note and different style to be fasinating and it would make a fun craft to do with children of any age.  The note said that he used torn and cut papers from five different countries, pastels, colored pencils, glues, and paints to create each picture.  They also tell that the typography was done by Lynn Braswell.

The illustrations is Lesson 1: ART! Get out that box of scraps and whatever you have laying around.  Have the children make their own picture.  Or if you want to have more structure there are some amazing ideas on Pinterest!  For older kids you might want something really detailed (like this flower).  For preschoolers you can have them write their names with torn paper.

The story of Benny's Pennies is really sweet.  Benny has five pennies and he goes out and buys something with each penny.  As Benny is walking the story tells of what he buys and how many pennies he has left. Throughout the story there are small rhymes "Mr Hopper said 'You're quite the shopper." Once Benny has no more pennies left and his arms are full he goes back home.  Who are all the items for?  He spent all his money on things for his family.  He didn't get anything for himself!

I love that!  I love the teaching of selflessness, and giving to others.  Those pennies were his, he could have gotten himself cookies, candy, and whatever, but he got everyone else something instead.  At the end I asked the group I read to how they thought Benny felt.  Have you ever given something to someone before?  If they can't think of a time you can say maybe for someone's birthday, they give gifts and don't get any in return.  How does it make you feel to give a gift?

My youngest daughter's school has a really neat system set up that there are jars in each classroom for children and parents to put their spare pennies, these are then counted, but in a bank account, and saved for when needed.  This money is then used to help families in the school who might have something major happen.  Some examples, a family loses their house to fire, a child is sick and needs to stay at a hospital far away and insurance doesn't cover the family's stay there, a loss of a parent or child.  These are very hard times for a family to go through.  These are things we never think will happen to us but unfortunately they do.  A group of parents from the school is then gathered and they vote on how much of the money to give to the family in need.  This is such a blessing to have set up, for the times that it's needed.   I love that the school has something like that set up to help out their own families.

I read Benny's Pennies to the class to introduce them to their own way to give to others.  A couple kids started to call the jar of pennies "Benny's Pennies" while others just said they were bringing in pennies to help sick kids.  It was really sweet to watch them and see how empathetic they were about this money is going to help someone one day.  I loved watching my daughter dig through our cup holders, and constantly stop to pick up a penny to put in her classroom's jar.

At home we have taken this idea of charity and applied it to nickles.  So as we come across nickles they go in a small pickle jar, when that is full we will take it to donate to a charity.  We are doing a smaller jar because it will fill up faster for one, and we can give to more charities than just one.  Since my oldest daughter is 9 now I plan to have her help research all our local non-profits, and charities, and learn more about each of them and ways to help them along with donating what we've saved.


"A small amount today will make a big difference tomorrow"

Lesson 2: Charity-The act of giving to others without getting anything in return.  That's the main lesson of the book and what we just talked about

Lesson 3: Math!  Benny starts out with 5 pennies, each time he buys something he has one less.  There are many counting stories like this; each one teaches children math.  You can take this a step farther and have pennies for them to play shopping with.  Set up a sheet of paper for them to count to 50 (this helps in you are rolling change)   If you are saving change you can make a number line and have them guess how many pennies (or nickles or whatever) you have.

Lesson 4: Price & Values.  The one thing about this book that bothered me and made me laugh a bit is that you cannot buy anything today for a penny!  I felt like the book was giving kids a false sense of money that you can't buy a cookie for a penny.  I do however know that it takes a long time for children to understand money and money values.  My youngest call all coins pennies, all bills are a dollar.  Therefore this everything is paid for with a penny is understandable.  You can turn this into a lesson on it's own.  Start pointing out the price of things the cookie you want with lunch is .50 that is 50 pennies, or 2 quarters.  It will take them a while to understand but it's a start.

From there you move on to Lesson 5: Savings!  for older preschool kids, Kindergarten and up, have them start saving their money to buy something they want.  How? Chores.  Look for chores that are suggest for their age.  We started this and it's been working well, if they don't do the chores they don't earn the money, it's pretty simple.  I made this chart for them and you will notice that they aren't earning $5 a day, most chores are between .10 to .25 each with the exception of bigger jobs.  Feeding the animals they don't earn on, that's part of being a pet owner.  (This is my opinion you can do as you wish in your house)  Now why am I giving them so little?  For one I can't afford to pay them $5 every day.  I am against allowances, you can can earn your money.  Two, we have a spare change jar, so it made sense, as soon as the dog is walked I can give them a dime, it's instant reward.  Also since they are young the chores are easier (and I usually have to reload the dishwasher, finish and re vacuum, ect) as they grow and doing dishes entail loading, running, and unloading the dishwasher along with washing items by hand they will earn more.  You can adjust this to how you feel is best.
I also saw this idea on pinterest that fits well for jars for the kids/family: save, spend, give.

Readability of Benny's Pennies.  I held the attention of the preschool I read to (ages 3-5) very well as I had they help calling out how many pennies and the book kept them engaged throughout it.  I'd say it's great for kids ages 4-8.  Pair it with other books focused around helping others and it would work well for any story time.

The Bottom Line: A Great Lesson Book

The Story Line: is easy to read, fast paced, fun, engaging, and has a beautiful lesson.

The Illustrations: are unique, colorful, and aid the story.

"To give and not expect return, that is what lies at the heart of LOVE"
-Oscar Wilde