'Jenny, the Penny Princess'

On the way home, Jenny saw an old, rusty penny near the curb.

"Spends as good as a shiny one," Grandpa said. Jenny picked it up.

"Only six more to go!" she said.

Jenny continued to look, and soon she found pennies behind the sofa cushions, under her bed, and on the kindergarten playground. She picked them up.

"I have even more than I need," she told Grandpa. "Can we go back to the Dollar Store right away?"

"Sure," Grandpa answered.

Jenny counted out 108 pennies. The lady at the counter watched with her arms crossed. Then she counted them herself.

"Hurry up!" snarled a man behind Jenny.

Finally, the lady put the crown in a bag and handed it to Jenny.

"Let's go!" Jenny said to Grandpa. They hurried out. Jenny put the crown on her head.

"At last," she said, "I really am a penny princess!" She whirled and twirled all the way home.

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Special thanks to Veronica Walsh for this week's illustration. Visit her website at www.veronicawalsh.net/.

kidsreadingroom@latimes.com; latimes.com/kids