From Publishers Weekly
PW praised the "sunny and unusually textured torn-and cut-paper collages" in this tale of a boy's shopping expedition, adding, "Well-chosen language, cumulative refrain and judiciously placed rhymes lend the text a pleasing musicality." Ages 3-6.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 1-A rhyming cumulative story about a boy who has five pennies and wants to spend them all. As he walks along, he comes across a woman cutting roses, a girl baking cookies, a boy making paper hats, a fisherman catching fish, and a butcher cutting meat, and does business with each of them. The illustrations are done in textured-paper collages, highlighted with pastels and colored pencils. The paper is layered to give a three-dimensional, sculptured effect. The figures are shown generally in profile and are very stylized: all of them, including an African-American boy, seem to be cut from the same silhouette. This technique gives the art a static, friezelike quality, even though motion is indicated. Also, there are few visual cues to make the transition from one scene to the next. Despite these awkward elements, the variety of textures is appealing and the text will fill the bill for continuing requests for predictable pattern books.
Linda Wicher, Highland Park Public Library, ILCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.