Jeong-hee Nam

"Lion, King, and Coin" is a historical fiction picture book introducing the use of coins as currency in ancient Sardis.

Its strongest points are the illustrations, historical information at the back, and the inclusion of the Midas Touch myth as explanation for why their particular river contains so much gold.

The first-person narrative seems stilted at times: descriptions of the panning and smithing processes are interesting, but at the end, the family is still running a gold stall at the market. "My uncle's stall is peaceful now. All he does is sell pieces of gold and accept coins in exchange." ... but the coins were made (of gold, of course) by the family. Why are they still selling raw gold and accepting the coins they manufactured (an arduous process, it would seem: "It was hard work to make a coin."), without mention of how they were compensated for having also become the royal mint.

The problem doesn't seem well presented: the uncles complains that he traded gold for a cow, but the cow ran away. Wouldn't he still need a cow at some point to provide for the family? It seems the solution to his problem might be a fence, or putting our young narrator in charge of watching the cow, but creating coinage is rather a leap.

Especially since it isn't particularly clear what problem, exactly, needs to be solved, this particular family really seems to be out a lot of labor with the solution.

I liked this book on first reading, but when I started describing it for this review I realized I wasn't all that impressed...

Still, the illustrations are lovely: stylized and evocative; they make the book enjoyable despite its "plot holes." If I were reading to a very young child, I would probably alter the text. If used for older children, I would encourage them to focus on the timeline and historical information at the back.… (more)

Lion, King, and Coin is a lovely yet educational story by Jeong-hee Nam. Concerning how and why currency, similar to what we use today for commerce, was developed, this story takes the young reader into the distant past to Sardis, the capital of Lydia (modern day Turkey). We follow a young boy named Laos as he observes his merchant father and uncle in how they traded goods each day with local shoppers. Through a set of circumstances, they begin to mint and use gold coins for trade - and in a simplistic manner, the reasoning of how and why currency was developed is presented.

Not being a teacher, I do not know how I would use this book in a classroom, but as an older retried woman who watches children between the ages of 5 and 8, 3 days a week, I used it during one of our quiet reading times. There is good information in the back of the book to guide the "teacher" as s/he reads the book so the children will understand the terms, location, etc. that is discussed in the book.

The artwork is lovely - not overly done and several of "my children" spent time just looking at the pages after we read and talked about the story and what we learned.

Without outside information, it is a nice story but not truly educational so it is important for guidance if you are using it for that reason. If it is 'just to read' there is no problem. It is not offensive in any manner, a child can read it solo. Over all I enjoyed the book.… (more)