A Dollar’s Grand Dream, a fun money allegory that works on two levels

Kids love money. It’s not that they’re greedy Thurston Howell wannabe millionaires, rather, it’s more that they want to be lazy, do-nothing social media influencers who make dopey videos and get paid according to insane Markle-esque levels. A child’s curiosity about money and its power is natural. A Dollar’s Grand Dream felt familiar when I first looked at this illustrated book. Ah-this is similar to the book on pennies that I liked. While I disdain the fact that the penny, as a currency, is still a thing, the book itself was quite charming. This book follows that same template, but because it’s about a dollar, it has more weight, carries more interest, and is a better book because of it.

A Dollar’s Grand Dream is from the perspective of Big Bill, a one-dollar bill that’s living the dream. It can change up from four quarters, do it one hundred times when pennies are involved, ten times for the dimes, and twenty in total when the nickels roll around. Big Bill is quite happy in the wallet until a one-hundred-dollar bill shows up. Bill starts to dream of all of the bigger and better things that more zeroes would allow it to accomplish when the one-hundred dollar bill grants his wish. A magic penny that’s near the fountain says that it can help Bill gain the currency that it’s seeking.

Suddenly Big Bill is 10,000 times bigger and living the grand life. Bill is hanging out with a thousand-dollar bill, and being driven around in an armored van. A wallet is the mode of travel for common money and he was now in the upper echelon of (fictional) currency. However, instead of an active life being traded for various goods and services, it’s kept in a museum. He then imagines his new life, if he were to actually be used, and the number of quarters, dollars or other cash that would be needed to make change. Not only would this cause the need for wallets to be the size of backpacks, it would make his life much more boring, so it reconsiders his wish at the fountain. Through a nice distraction by his one-thousand dollar friend, he escapes back to the fountain where it’s able to jump back in and resume his old life as the most commonly used paper money in the United States.

At its core, A Dollar’s Grand Dream is a funny, pun-laden romp about money. However, there’s a concurrent plot about wishing for something else and thinking the other side is better. It’s the grass is always greener lesson that kids will always daydream about.  However, this doesn’t feel like a lesson book and kids won’t perceive it as such. Instead, it comes across as an action-adventure book with a one-dollar bill as the main character. He’s been afforded some fast-paced action sequences, illustrated by Mark Hoffmann, with wicked quick wit that runs with energy and compliments the visuals.

The really great illustrated books that effortlessly translate to the great read-aloud category are those that you can immediately see yourself reading with joy. You can visualize yourself energetically sharing the gesticulations of characters. Your voice will ebb and flow, depending on where the characters are in their arc and your young audience will be on the edge of their seats, leaning forward to match your enthusiasm. The book also has to be short enough for you to be able to read it quickly or have enough detail to allow it to be stretched out if you need to.

A Dollar’s Grand Dream hits all of those qualifiers on the head. It’s a quick-paced illustrated book that’s funny, very smart, and teaches kids about money. As we mentioned, every kid likes money or is at least curious about it and this book will open up conversations about it. Yes, a one-thousand-dollar bill did exist, but isn’t in circulation now and can only be viewed in a museum. No, a ten-thousand bill doesn’t exist. Yes, it’s a fun book that serves as entertainment to ages five and up and will yield some cool discussion about cash, if your reading time allows it.

A Dollar’s Grand Dream is by Kimberly Wilson with illustrations by Mark Hoffman and is available on Page Street Kids, which is distributed by Macmillan Publishers.

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