Crowder, Melanie. Three Pennies. Atheneum, 2017. $16.99. ISBN 9781481471879. 181 pages. Ages 10-14. P7Q8
Abandoned by her mother, living in foster homes since the age of four, eleven-year-old Marin Greene has just become adoptable. But, if she is adopted, any chance of her mother coming back into her life disappears. Marin uses the three pennies and the worn copy of the I-Ching that her mother left to try to make sense of the world, but the answers are inconclusive. Told in the alternating voices of Marin, social worker Gilda, Asian-American lesbian Dr. Lucy Chang, and the rehabilitated owl who follows Marin—who Owl thinks of as the hatchling—the story examines personal loss and how one makes connections. As Marin faces changes in her life, she decides to find her mother, only to face another loss. An earthquake brings everyone together in a new configuration.
Verdict: I enjoyed the relationships in Three Pennies, as well as the magical realism brought into the story by Owl. I recommend it for upper elementary through middle school libraries and public library collections.
September 2017 review by Jane Cothron.
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