The book is diverse and uses a setting that some children may not know about, so it is a good teaching point for the teacher. ( )

This book is about a young boy named Saruni who wants to save up his money for a bike. This book takes place in Tanzania. In the book it shows how his savings are growing, and how he organizes the coins into rows and piles. I think this book is great for students because it teaches them the value of money and working hard for the things you want in life. ( )

In my opinion, this is a great book. It shows a different culture, country, language, and the importance of determination. The author teaches the reader common words in the main character's language and describes the life of a boy in Tanzania. The main character, Saruni, reflects his selflessness by helping his mother with the market. He is determined to buy himself a bike and learn how to ride it to help her more. He saves his money every week to buy the bike. Although he was not able to buy one, his determination and selflessness was proven to his parents. In the end, he was able to get the bike, which reads for a great lesson. ( )

This story takes me back to the feeling I had as a child when I would save my change intentionally to buy something special, and I shared a similar sense of purpose and pride that Saruni felt. Although, he was much more selfless in his reason for saving- to help his mother with their daily work. The author builds up anticipation, when will he FINALLY save enough to get that bike, as he repeats the process of emptying his box, arranging the coins, and hoping for his dream bike. Saruni reminds us that sacrifice of our time and energy is so worth it and makes our reward that much sweeter. The illustrations in water color create scenes that come to life- making me feel as if these character are real, as if I know them, as if I am the one desiring to earn that bike to help my own mother. ( )

A boy wants to buy a bike, so he saves every cent that he makes. He wants the bike to help his mom at the market. The tale has many messages about responsibility, accountability, and saving money, He has a worthy cause and a foolproof plan that can't fail, or can it? ( )

I like this is the book for a couple of reasons. First, I like the determination Saruni had for saving money to buy what he really wants: a bike. As a young child, even as adults, it is very hard to save money for just anything, especially if you are surrounded by temptation. “There were wooden toy trucks, kites, slingshots, and marbles. . . . [Saruni] want[ed] to buy everything.” Second, the genre of this book is realistic fiction. This is very significant when to readers because they can easily relate times when they really wanted to buy something but did not have enough money. In turn, it inspires readers to be determined like the Saruni, not only on saving money for the thing he likes but also determined to reach their goal. Third, I like the repetition in the book when Saruni counts his rows and piles of coins: “I emptied the box, arranged the coins in piles and the piles of rows. Then I counted the coins and thought about the blue and red bicycle.” This helps the young reader stay with their reading group and teachers can implement a small math lesson. Where young readers count the rows and piles of coins as it progresses. The determination, genre of the book, and repetition in My Rows and Piles of Coins enable readers to easily relate to Saruni. ( )

I loved this book for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, this book gave a wonderful snapshot into the culture of Mollel’s childhood. This book transported you into this distant place, but with problems we have all experience, which brings me to my next point. This book is incredibly relatable. Almost every child has a memory of working hard to save for something they special they wanted and many also have the experience of not having enough and a parent swooping in to reward them for their hard work. Finally, the family bonds were very strong in this book. The selfless nature of our protagonist, Saruni, shows a wonderful example of the idea that families take care of each other. Saruni causes us to think how we have served our families and encourages us to participate more. ( )

I liked reading this book for many reasons. The first reason I liked this book is that showed the culture of the people living in Africa. The story was about a boy who would help his mother carry things to and from the market. He realized how hard she would work and wanted to save up his money to buy a bike to help carry things to make it easier. He was turned down but kept on saving until he was given one. The book is a great way to show others from different cultures and push readers to imagine themselves living a life like the main character. I think the main idea of this book is if you work hard enough you can persevere and end up getting what you worked for. ( )

This book is a great story of hard work and generosity on the part of a small boy. This little boy worked and saved every cent he was paid to help bring things to market to help his mother carry her things on a bicycle. This story has a great central theme of hard work and dedication and how those two always pay off! ( )

This book is absolutely amazing! It is a very good example of showing the diversity and positive aspects of African countries. Students who may come from the country of Tanzania, may appreciate the fact that their culture is being displayed in a positive light. The illustrations are very detailed and give some good insight into the African culture. The illustrations alone elaborate on some African traditions such as clothing, food and some of the hardworking traits that Africans possess. The story can easily bring different emotions out of readers. I went from feeling a sense of happiness, to disappointment, to excitement and then to prideful. I think that this book really captures the gratefulness that appears in many African communities. The little boy in the story was earning his money in an honest way and could only think about how he could use his money to help and give back! That is amazing! I think that this story teachers an important lesson. The lesson is that when you do good things, good things will happen! You should always do your very best to be a good person and to help others. The little boy was absolutely devastated when he found out that he didn't have enough money to buy the bike, but he was gifted a bike as a token of the couple's appreciation. This was a great read!!! ( )

Summary: This book is about a young boy who works alongside his mother, getting just one coin a day. The boy saves his money in hopes of buying a bike, just to get laughed at by the man selling them. The boy ends up getting a reward in the end for perseverance.
Personal Reaction: This book really touched me because it’s so heart-warming. If everyone worked as hard as the boy in this book, the world would be a better place.
Classroom Extensions:
1.In the classroom, the students could go a few weeks doing good deeds to get paper coins. At the end, they could gather their earnings and “buy” something nice from a candy drawer or something.
2.We could discuss the importance of saving and what the students would save for.

This story is about a young boy that is helping his mother at the market in Africa. After a long day, his mother rewards him with a handful of coins and tells him to buy whatever he would like from the market. The boy searches for something that would be helpful for his mother and then he comes across a bicycle. He decides this would be the perfect thing to buy to help his mom carry things to and from the market. The boy begins to save his coins for the bicycle. Eventually, his mother finds out why he wants the bicycle and when his other family member gets a new motorbike, they give the bicycle to the boy. He then starts to save more coins for a cart to go with his bicycle. This story teaches kids many important lessons, such as helping others, like the boy was planning on helping his mother. It also teaches the value of saving and that hard work is rewarded. I like this book because while the setting may be different, the situation is relatable. I remember saving money for something I really wanted to buy and how difficult it was to keep saving, much like the little boy from Africa felt every day when he counted his coins. The story also provides insight into another culture that faces more hardship when it comes to money, transportation, etc. The sentences are age appropriate and the illustrations are eye-catching and help tell the story. ( )

The story contains a young boy, who is both determined and thoughtful throughout his journey to purchase something special for him self that would help his mother out. In the beginning of the story, the young boys mother, Yeyo, gave him five whole ten-cent coins for helping her at the market. He set off in search for something he that would help his mother and noticed a bicycle at the market. He thought this was the best thing to buy because he could help his mother carry heavy items to the market with her on Saturdays. The young boy did not have enough money to buy the bicycle, so he decided to save his money he got each week from helping his mother. He went back to the market to buy the bike, but the young boy was rejected for he did not have enough money. Yeyo noticed her son was upset so she asked him what was wrong. He explained to her that he was saving his money in order to help her, which caused his mother to be extremely proud of him. Yeyo then surprised her son the next day with a brand new bike and he handed her the money he had saved. Yeyo smiled and told him the bike was a reward for all of his help. The excited young boy had the biggest smile on his face when he was able to go to the market with his mother the next Saturday with his load sitting on his bicycle. ( )

When reading this book, a few thoughts came into my mind. One, the shadings and textures of this book really make it seem as if I'm watching a real movie. Two, this plot is very warm and encouraging to a child who may have come upon hard times. Lastly, how much research would I have to do to find out why would a child be wearing a coat in July in Africa. This book gave me many reasons why it is a Coretta Scott King Award winner. I feel as if the author and illustrator were the same person. The only thing that kept this book from being five stars in my eyes is its lack of explanation of the climate in Africa, because I as a college student had issues keeping up with the differences in climate in New Orleans and Tanzania, so I'm pretty sure a young child reading this on there own will have questions. ( )

great book especially for children who want to learn how to safe and earn money on there own because a lot of children don't know the meaning of safing nor the value of hard work yet!! so definitely a great way to teach the importance of responsibilities'. age group 3-8 ( )

This is an excellent book that I plan to have in my classroom one day. The over arching message in this book is that your kindness will never go unnoticed. The books setting takes place on the West African coast in a place where people must put in hard earned labor to see results. The little boy in the stories name is Saruni and he helps the people of the village with their labor. With his coins he has earned from the day Saruni states "My heart beats excitedly I want to but everything, but I clutched my coins tightly in my pocket." While the young man is tempted, he knows what he wants. The books language is very detailed. Saruni wants a bike with all the money he has earned and when describing the bikes the book says "In a neat sparking row stood several big new bicycles." This descriptions were stated of the bike and of the rows. The language continues to be detailed like that throughout the book. The illustrations are very vibrant and detailed. On page 9 there are many women in longer shirts and colorful head-wear. The book teaches children that with time and patience you can accomplish the things you want. ( )

Summary: A little boy is given five whole ten-cent coins, and is told by his mother to go buy himself something. The little boy walks around and saw a lot of things. But the thing that caught his eyes was a bicycle. The young boy decides that he will buy a bicycle. From that point on the boy saves his money that he is given. He puts his money in a secret money box. Every time he put more money in this box the boy would empty out the box, arrange the coins in piles and rows. Then he would count the money. The boy wanted a bike so bad so he could help his mother out more when she carried things to the markets. While he saved his money, his father was teaching the young boy how to ride his big bike. One day the boy collected all his money and take it to the market to buy his very own bike. But when he got to the market, the guy selling the bikes laughed at him because he didn't have enough money. The boy went home to tell his mother about what had happened. She told him that he would buy a bicycle. The next day his father came home with a motorbike. His father no longer needed his old bike, so he sold it to his son for 30 shillings and 50 cents. That is the exact amount the young boy had. The parents then handed the money back to the son to repay him for all his hard work. The young boy finally had a bike that he could carry things on as his mother and him walked to the market. But the story doesn't end there, the young boy wants to buy a cart that he can pull behind his bike to help his mother's loads to the market lessen.

Critique: This is such a cute book. It teaches students a lesson. That lesson is that hard work does pay off. The little boy in the book wants so badly to buy a bike so that he can help his mother more. He saves and saves until he feels that he has enough money. But sadly it isn't enough. The little boy finally gets a bike when his father sells him his. It also teaches students how to be selfless. It shows students the benefit of putting others before themselves. The young boy wanted a bike to help his mother, which shows him being selfless.

Prompt: Have a picture of the bike hanging up. Also it would be neat if there was a secret box with coins in it, and every time the boy got more money the teacher did exactly what the young boy did. This would help bring the book to life. So when the book empties the box, the teacher would do the same. Then when he put them in piles and rows, and counted it, the teacher did the same.

Craft Element:
Reading- Have the students pay close attention to the words and picture. Have them figure out where the is book takes place (not the U.S).
Writing- Have the students write ways that they can be selfless in order to help others around them.

Without explicity saying so, this story takes place in an African village where things are a little harder than we are used to here in the United States. Through the illustrations, the market is shown and the reader can infer from the clothing styles, food, and market set up that the main character and his family live in Africa or somewhere similar, where they have to walk far to get to the market and then carry all of their heavy items home on foot by hand. The money in the story is also physically different from the money we are used to, so that is another factor that shows this story takes place in a different kind of country than what I'm used to. This story shows the hardships that the family have to face without a vehicle to carry their heavy items to and from the market. This story also teaches a lesson about saving. The main character saves his money for a very long time to purchase a bike in order to help his mother carry things to and from the market. This teaches children a very valuable lesson about saving money for something worthwhile, and helping others. ( )

This picture book seems to be geared towards older beginning readers. This story has longer sentences and paragraphs than some of the other picture books in my list. Good lesson-teaching story. ( )

This book is about a young boy from Northern Tanzania. The story line is one where he saves all of his money and is disappointed when he tries to go to buy the bicycle he has been wanting. But, he continues to save his money in hopes that he will one day be able to afford the bicycle. I think that one, this would be a great way to introduce different cultures to young children. And, two, it has a good theme that if you work hard for what you want eventually you will be able to achieve that goal. ( )

This story is about a little boy saving his coins for a red and blue bicycle. He wants to purchase the bike to help his mother with carrying heavy items. He is disappointed to find out that he hadn't saved enough for the bicycle. Good book for children to show responsibility and being helpful.

Age: 5

Source: Pierce County Library

Saruni is saving his precious coins for a red and blue bicycle. How happy he will be when he can help his mother carry heavy loads to market on his very own bicycle--and how disappointed he is to discover that he hasn't saved nearly enough!

cute story about earning money, saving for a special purchase and making sacrifices for one's family. ( )

A little boy is excited to help his mother after purchasing a bicycle with money he has managed to save
Ages 4-8
Pierce College Library

A boy wants a bike to be able to help his mother, so he saves up his money.

Recommended Age: PreK ( )