I'm one of those moms that likes to collect things for my children. My daughter has a collection of Native American Barbie dolls that she's not allowed to play with. My son has the full set of Mr. Men books, but he is allowed to read those.

When I first heard about the program to put out the US State Quarters, I didn't think I would fall victim to this "fad," but then again, I didn't think I would have ever bought any Beanie Babies either and I now own too many of those.

So I did decide to start collecting the State Quarters for my children. After all, at least they won't lose their value! After the first five quarters came out, it started to become a bit difficult to keep track of all of them. I had empty jars full of rattling coins. Oh, they will get smudged or nicked, I thought! It was time to invest in a way to keep this collection safe. So I picked up the 50 States Quarter Folder while out shopping one day.

DESCRIPTION

The 50 States Quarter Folder from Tangerine Press (ISBN number 0-439-20822-X) isn't much in the way of a real book. It consists of a lightweight cardboard folder decorated with a jumbo quarter and stars and stripes. When the folder is open, each side of the folder is lined with a clear plastic page (for lack of a better word!) with 25 quarter sized indentations per page. Beneath each indentation is the year of release and the state name. The states are placed in order of introduction to the country, just as the quarters are being released.

To accompany the folder is a small paperback book entitled The 50 States. The first few pages of the booklet describe the State Quarters program and discuss some of the design changes that have taken place in the quarter's history.

The book then provides information on each of the 50 states in alphabetical order. Each state information block contains the state name, nickname, capital, flower, tree and bird as well as information regarding that state's land area and size rank, year of statehood, order of statehood, and coin issue release year. A small drawing of the state's outline and state flag is also included. Additionally, a short paragraph describes the history of each state.

In addition to all of the information contained in this short booklet, the center of the book shows a map of the United States with each state name and year of admission to the Union.

EXPERIENCE

I view the 50 States Quarter Folder to be primarily a folder and use it as such. In that capacity, the folder works very well. Each quarter is simply pressed into the corresponding indentation in the folder and each quarter I have entered thus far (13 of them) has remained stuck fast. For a beginning collector such as me, this is absolutely terrific, provided that the quarter is placed in the correct slot! I have not attempted to dig out any of the quarters since I have entered them all correctly so far, so I don't know how difficult this might be to do if a quarter was put in the wrong position.

The booklet included with the 50 States Quarter Folder is small and on the flimsy side, but it is chock full of valuable information. This set would be a great addition to either a homeschooling curriculum or to supplement school taught history and geography lessons.

RECOMMENDATION

The 50 States Quarter Folder has a list price of only $5.95 and is well worth every penny. Though this book probably wouldn't suffice for a serious coin collector and doesn't offer spectacular display options, it's a terrific choice for the family collector who just wants to grab a piece of history and hold onto it.




Recommended: Yes