With his savings-- five pennies-- Nick sets out to buy an animal. After he visits the fruit store, hardware store and butcher shop, his coins are gone. Walking sadly home, Nick acquires a stray puppy who has followed because the boy carries the butcher's meat scraps. Nick has more fun with five cents than a child could possibly have today. The old-fashioned mood is reinforced by Mr. Blegvad's full color art work, n which the ink-lined shading and conceptions reflect a past decade. First year readers should have no trouble with the very short sentences.