Lion, King, and Coin

By Jeong-hee Nam and Lucia Sforza

National Council for the Social Studies-Children’s Book Council: 2018 Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People

A fascinating story about the invention of currency

Laos enjoys his life in ancient Turkey. His father and grandfather are blacksmiths, famous for melting gold into beautiful objects. Laos helps by working in his grandfather's market stall, bartering their gold for food and livestock.

But exchanging such different goods and quantities is complicated. What they need is something to represent the value of their goods, something durable and lightweight. And so the king comes to Laos's family with a very important task: to create something that will make the market accessible to everyone.

This Trade Winds book introduces readers to the world's first coin and gives them an appreciation for modern-day currency.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Release date: May 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781467464741

Book preview

Reviews for Lion, King, and Coin

[pallandavid · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[tildenschoollibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lovely, interesting and different.

[sebisthesecond · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5/5 StarsA fun cute story about the invention of the coin. While I felt the story was really fun to read, the best point of this point and all of the Tradewind books is the Illustrations in the book. I'm looking forward to reading more from them!What I really liked about this book is the true facts that are in the back of the book. I find them really fun to read and to see the true story behind the story I just read. Plus, I think they're a great thing for children readers! They can get a fun and cute story as well as learn a bit about History and Social Studies.

[mykl8s · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lion, King, and Coin, is an interesting book to read aloud to a child. The beautiful illustrations, in shades of yellow, blue, red, and green, are appealing and well linked to the text. It may be confusing to a bright child reading on their own. The King Midas myth is wrapped inside the main story about the first coins came to be made, and seems unnecessary to the story of coins. The book ends with four pages in smaller type and written at a much higher level, with many special terms. Even the main story throws in undefined terms like "electrum," "exchange," "imprint," and "engraved." This title does help fill a need for books for children about economics and trade and coins and currency.

[sullijo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another in Eerdmans' Trade Winds series exploring the history of economics and culture, "Lion, King, and Coin" examines the invention of coinage in ancient Sardis through the eyes of a young merchant's son.The story is well told with illustrations that feel period-appropriate. I especially liked the inclusion of the myth of King Midas as an "explanation" for the presence of gold used to make the first coins.The book includes an end section covering corresponding history, geography, and vocabulary, making this a great book for upper elementary classrooms.N.B.: I received a free copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This children's picture book tells the story of the invention of coins from the perspective of Laos, a young man in a family of goldsmiths. The book seems ideal for use in upper elementary classrooms. Additional features include a brief encyclopedia-like history of the invention of the coin, a map showing the location of Sardis, and a glossary. This book could be used as supplementary reading for math units on money, in social studies units, or even in language arts units on mythology since the story includes the legend of King Midas.This review is based on an electronic advance reader's copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an informative children's book about how we came to have money. It discusses bartering, exchanging goods, and the difficulty of finding someone who actually wanted what you had to trade before currency. It talks about some of the precursors to coinage. The illustrations seem to fit the period of history being discussed. I received an advance review copy of the book from the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review.