26 Letters and 99 Cents

Title: 26 Letters and 99 Cents

Author: Tana Hoban

Illustrator: Tana Hoban

Publisher: Greenwillow Books, New York

Genre: Concept Book

Level: Primary

Number of Pages: 30

Pub. Date: 1987

Summary:  This is a book for very young children that is two books in one. When you start it from one direction it has big bright numbers placed next to the correct amount of money that makes it up, like a big red five with a nickel next to it. The numbers go up to 99 and use all different combinations of coins. When you flip the book around and start what would be upside down from the first way, it’s a book about letters. They are big bright letters with an object next to them that start with that letter, like a big blue uppercase P, a little red lowercase p and a toy pig are all next to each other. This book is very colorful and covers concepts of letters and numbers, both counting and money.

Critique: This book is very colorful and inviting to young children. The objects, letters and numbers are big and bold and the book itself is pretty big which makes it very visually appealing and kids would be more likely to pick it up. This book is a concept book, but it covers multiple concepts. It isn’t clearly demonstrated which concept was addressed in the book the most because they are all equally represented. It represents letters and numbers in different ways, like in different colors and several representations of coins. I wouldn’t say this book is the best representation of a concept book because it doesn’t clearly demonstrate one concept in multiple ways.

Response: The part of the book that I liked best was the fact that she used pictures of tangible

items, many of them being toys, and matched them with the letters that they started with. I think this representation is really something that little ones would associate the best with, toys that they will see all of the time. This seems like a great first step for children learning about letters, money and numbers. One of my thoughts about a negative point is that this book might be a little too childish for children who are learning the different combinations of money up to 99 cents. It seems that by then they will already know their letters and numbers and may not choose this book to learn about money, but it could be a good tool for those just starting to learn about money because they could match the coins on the page with real coins, giving them a tangible way to represent the number with money.