Article
E.B. Lewis
Fiction,

My Rows and Piles of Coins

Every week, Saruni counts the coins in his box, dreaming about the day he will buy his bicycle.

By Tololwa M. Mollel
From the March/April 2021 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will analyze how details in a story explain what life is like for a boy in Tanzania.

Lexile: 600L-700L
Guided Reading Level: T
DRA Level: 50
Featured Skill: Setting,
Common Core Standards
  • Anchor Standards
    R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, W.3, SL.1, SL.2, L.4
  • Grade 4
    RL.4.1, RL.4.2, RL.4.3, RL.4.4, W.4.3, SL.4.1, SL.4.2, L.4.4
  • Grade 5
    RL.5.1, RL.5.2, RL.5.3, RL.5.4, W.5.3, SL.5.1, SL.5.2, L.5.4
  • Grade 6
    RL.6.1, RL.6.2, RL.6.3, RL.6.4, W.6.3, SL.6.1, SL.6.2, L.6.4
TEKS Standards
  • Grade 4
    4.1a, c; 4.3a, b; 4.5a 4.6; 4.7a, b, c, g; 4.8a, b, d; 4.9a, f; 4.10c, d; 4.11; 4.12a, d
  • Grade 5
    5.1a, c; 5.3a, b; 5.5a; 5.6; 5.7a, b, c, g; 5.8a, b, d; 5.9a, f; 5.10c, d; 5.11; 5.12a, d
  • Grade 6
    6.1a, c; 6.2a, b; 6.4a; 6.5; 6.6a, b, g, h; 6.7a, b, d; 6.8a, f; 6.9c, d; 6.10; 6.11a, d

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UP CLOSE

Setting

As you read, look for details that tell you what life is like for Saruni in the place where he lives. 

After a good day at the market, my mother, Yeyo, gave me five whole ten-cent coins. I gaped at the money until Yeyo nudged me. “Saruni, what are you waiting for? Go and buy yourself something.”

I plunged into the market. I saw roasted peanuts, chapati, rice cakes, and sambusa. There were wooden toy trucks, kites, slingshots, and marbles. My heart beat excitedly. I wanted to buy everything, but I clutched my coins tightly in my pocket.

At the edge of the market, I stopped. In a neat sparkling row stood several big new bicycles. One of them was decorated all over with red and blue.

That’s what I would buy!

For some time now, Murete, my father, had been teaching me to ride his big, heavy bicycle. If only I had a bicycle of my own!

A gruff voice startled me. “What are you looking for, little boy?”

I turned and bumped into a tall skinny man, who laughed at my confusion. Embarrassed, I hurried back to Yeyo.

That night, I dropped five ten-cent coins into my secret money box. It held other ten-cent coins Yeyo had given me for helping with market work on Saturdays. By the dim light of a lantern, I feasted my eyes on the money. I couldn’t believe it was all mine.

I emptied the box,

arranged all the coins in piles

and the piles in rows.

Then I counted the coins

and thought about the bicycle

I longed to buy.

Every day after school, when I wasn’t helping Yeyo to prepare supper, I asked Murete if I could ride his bicycle. He held the bicycle steady while I rode around, my toes barely touching the pedals.

Whenever Murete let go, I wobbled, fell off, or crashed into things and among coffee trees. Other children from the neighborhood had a good laugh watching me.

Go on, laugh, I thought, sore but determined. Soon I would be like a cheetah on wheels, racing on errands with my very own bicycle!

Saturday after Saturday, we took goods to market, piled high on Yeyo’s head and on my squeaky old wooden wheelbarrow. We sold dried beans and maize, pumpkins, spinach, bananas, firewood, and eggs.

My money box grew heavier.

I emptied the box,

arranged the coins in piles

and the piles in rows.

Then I counted the coins

and thought about

the blue and red bicycle.

After several more lessons Murete let me ride on my own while he shouted instructions. “Eyes up, arms straight, keep pedaling, slow down!” I enjoyed the breeze on my face, the pedals turning smoothly under my feet, and, most of all, Yeyo’s proud smile as she watched me ride. How surprised she would be to see my new bicycle! And how grateful she would be when I used it to help her on market days!

The heavy March rains came. The ground became so muddy, nobody went to market. Instead, I helped Yeyo with house chores. When it wasn’t raining, I helped Murete on the coffee farm. We pruned the coffee trees and put fallen leaves and twigs around the coffee stems. Whenever I could, I practiced riding Murete’s bicycle.

It stopped raining in June. Not long after, school closed. Our harvest—fresh maize and peas, sweet potatoes, vegetables, and fruits—was so big, we went to market on Saturdays and Wednesdays. My money box grew heavier and heavier.

I emptied the box,

arranged the coins in piles

and the piles in rows.

Then I counted the coins

and thought about the bicycle

I would buy.

A few days later I grew confident enough to try to ride a loaded bicycle. With Murete’s help, I strapped a giant pumpkin on the carrier behind me. When I attempted to pedal, the bicycle wobbled so dangerously that Murete, alongside me, had to grab it.

“All right, Saruni, the load is too heavy for you,” he said, and I got off. Mounting the bicycle to ride back to the house, he sighed wearily. “And hard on my bones, which are getting too old for pedaling.”

I practiced daily with smaller loads, and slowly I learned to ride a loaded bicycle. No more pushing the squeaky old wheelbarrow, I thought. I would ride with my load tall and proud on my bicycle—just like Murete!

On the first Saturday after school opened in July, we went to market as usual. Late in the afternoon, after selling all we had, Yeyo sat talking with another trader.

I set off into the crowd. I wore an old coat Murete had handed down to me for chilly July days like today. My precious coins were wrapped in various bundles inside the oversize pockets of the coat.

I must be the richest boy in the world, I thought, feeling like a king. I can buy anything.

The tall skinny man was polishing his bicycles as I came up. “I want to buy a bicycle,” I said, and brought out my bundles of coins.

The man whistled in wonder as I unwrapped the money carefully on his table. “How many coins have you got there?”

Proudly, I told him. “Three hundred and five.”

“Three hundred and . . . five,” he muttered. “Mmh, that’s . . . thirty shillings and fifty cents.” He exploded with laughter. “A whole bicycle . . . for thirty shillings . . . and fifty cents?”

His laugh followed me as I walked away with my bundles of coins, deeply disappointed.

On our way home, Yeyo asked what was wrong.

I had to tell her everything.

“You saved all your money for a bicycle to help me?” she asked. I could tell she was amazed and touched. “How nice of you!” As for the tall skinny man, she scoffed, “Oi! What does he know? Of course you will buy a bicycle. One day you will.”

Her kind words did not cheer me.

The next afternoon, the sound of a pikipiki filled the air, tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk. I came out of the house and stared in astonishment. Murete was perched on an orange motorbike.

He cut the engine and dismounted. Then, chuckling at my excited questions about the pikipiki, he headed into the house.

When Murete came out, Yeyo was with him, and he was wheeling his bicycle. “I want to sell this to you. For thirty shillings and fifty cents.” He winked at me.

Surprised, I stared at Murete. How did he know about my secret money box? I hadn’t told him anything.

Then, suddenly, I realized the wonderful thing that had just happened. “My bicycle, I have my very own bicycle!” I said, and it didn’t matter at all that it wasn’t decorated with red and blue. Within moments, I had brought Murete my money box.

Murete gave Yeyo the box. Yeyo, in turn, gave it to me. Puzzled, I looked from Yeyo to Murete and to Yeyo again. “You’re giving it . . . back to me?”

Yeyo smiled. “It’s a reward for all your help to us.”

“Thank you, thank you!” I cried gleefully.

The next Saturday, my load sat tall and proud on my bicycle, which I walked importantly to market. I wasn’t riding it because Yeyo could never have kept up.

Looking over at Yeyo, I wished she didn’t have to carry such a big load on her head.

If only I had a cart to pull behind my bicycle, I thought, I could lighten her load!

That night I emptied the box,

arranged all the coins in piles

and the piles in rows.

Then I counted the coins

and thought about the cart

I would buy . . .

Write to Win

Imagine that you are Saruni and you have a new pen pal in the U.S. Write a letter to your pen pal with the story of how you got your first bicycle, making sure to include details about where you live. Send your letter to “Coins Contest” by May 1, 2021. Five winners will each receive a Storyworks prize. See page 2 for details. See our Contest Page for details. 

This story was originally published in the March 2021 issue.

Slideshows (1)
Audio ()
Activities (6)
Core Skills Workout
  • The Core Skills Workout is a series of skill-based activities that will help your students "bulk up" in the comprehension skills they need most to become strong, analytical readers. The Core Skills Workout comes with every issue and will support your reading program no matter what your scope and sequence.
Skills Activities
Quizzes (1)
Answer Key (1)
Slideshows (1)
Audio ()
Activities (6) Download All Activities
Core Skills Workout
  • The Core Skills Workout is a series of skill-based activities that will help your students "bulk up" in the comprehension skills they need most to become strong, analytical readers. The Core Skills Workout comes with every issue and will support your reading program no matter what your scope and sequence.
Skills Activities
Quizzes (1)
Answer Key (1)
Can't-Miss Teaching Extras
Explore the Storyworks Archive

Have students read another story that takes place in Tanzania: our paired-text article from September 2018, “The Boy Who Couldn’t Smile.” This nonfiction article describes the life of a boy named Osawa, who received life-changing cleft-lip surgery with the help of the organization Smile Train. Ask students how the setting compares with the one in “My Rows and Piles of Coins.”

Read the Whole Story

This story is adapted from a picture book. Share it with your students and point out the illustrations of scenes they’ll recognize from the Storyworks version. This may also be an opportunity to talk about the differences between the two versions. What is it like to read a story with lots of pictures? What is it like to read a story with mostly words? How is the experience different?

Learn to Save

Share this WikiHow that provides helpful tips for how to save money as a kid.
Invite students to write up their own plans for saving money, whether for a specific item or for
a rainy day.

Life in Tanzania

In this short video created by Plan International, a humanitarian organization focused on children’s rights and equality for girls, students can meet Mateo, a Tanzanian boy who films a day in his life, including events at home and at school. Students may be interested in discussing similarities and differences between Mateo’s and Saruni’s lives.

Get Charged Up

Read your students this BBC article  called “The African Invention School Inspired by Bike Parts” about Bernard Kiwia, a Tanzanian man who invented a phone charger powered by a bicycle, a crucial invention for communities in which electrical power is inconsistent. He went on to found Twende, a school for inventors, and is now known as the “father of rural invention” in Tanzania.

More About the Story

Skills

how a character changes, vocabulary, character, inference, connecting to a character, comparing characters, supporting details, author’s craft, analyzing, connecting texts, narrative writing

Complexity Factors

Levels of Meaning

This story takes place in a village in Tanzania, where a boy saves his money to buy a bicycle to help his mother carry produce to market. It is a story of working toward a goal, perseverance, and selflessness.

Structure

This realistic-fiction story is told in the first-person voice and is chronological. Certain lines in which the main character counts his saved coins are repeated throughout the story.

Language

The story uses some words related to Tanzanian culture, such as chapati and pikipiki. The text includes some similes.

Knowledge Demands 

The setting will be unfamiliar to most students. (A Background Builder Slideshow is available online.)

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

1. Preparing to Read

Engage Students, Preview Text Features, and Set a Purpose for Reading 

  • Invite students to complete these sentences, either orally or in an online chat: 

    One goal I’ve set and achieved is __________________________.

    One goal I’m working toward is __________________________.

  • Prompt students to read the Up Close box to set a purpose for reading.
  • Preview the questions in the margins of the story with students.
  • As a class, view the Background Builder Slideshow to introduce important details students will encounter in the story.
  • Distribute or assign our Vocabulary Skill Builder (available in your Resources tab) to preview five words. Students will also be able to add other unfamiliar words from the story. 
  • Vocabulary words include gaped, gruff, pruned, scoffed, and dismounted.

2. Reading and Discussing

First Read: Get to Know the Text (20 minutes) 

  • Have students read or listen to the audio of the story independently at home. 

Second Read: Unpack the Text (30 minutes)

  • Put students in small groups in your classroom or in video breakout rooms. Ask them to discuss the close-reading questions in the margins. Circulate among the groups to listen to discussions. This can be a good way to informally assess where students are. Answers follow. (In some cases, you’ll need to refer to the story to see the context of the question.) Then have them discuss the critical-thinking questions (available in your Resources tab).

Close-Reading Questions

  1. This story takes place in Tanzania, a country in East Africa. What clues on this page suggest that it’s set outside the United States? (setting, p. 17) Saruni goes to market to buy things. In the United States, most people buy things at stores. Also, some of the foods that Saruni sees at the market, such as chapati and sambusa, would be unusual to find in most American stores. Finally, the coins visible on the page don’t look like U.S. money.
  2. How does Saruni react to seeing the bicycles? What does he decide to do? (inference, p. 17) Saruni is filled with excitement and longing when he sees the bicycles—especially the red-and-blue one. He decides to add the money that Yeyo gave him to his secret money box to save up and buy that bicycle. 
  3. Think about why the author arranged the lines this way. What do they look like? Why do you think he repeats these lines throughout the story? (author’s craft, p. 18) They look like the rows and piles of coins that Saruni is stacking up. The author repeats these lines to show that Saruni is continually adding money to the secret money box, and each time he does, he is counting the rows and piles of coins and thinking about the bike he’s going to buy.
  4. What do you learn here about Saruni’s reason for wanting to buy the bicycle? (character’s motivation, p. 18) You learn that he wants a bicycle to help his mother on market days.
  5. What details in the story so far tell you how Saruni spends his time? (supporting details, p. 18) So far, Saruni has spent his time helping Yeyo at the market, learning to ride a bike, doing chores at home, and helping Murete on a coffee farm. You can tell that Saruni’s help is an important contribution to the family.
  6. How has Saruni’s bicycle riding improved over the course of the story? What does this tell you about him? (character, p. 19) Saruni has become more skilled at riding a bike and has also grown more confident. He even learns to ride with a loaded carrier behind the bike. This tells you that he’s a determined person who doesn’t give up at something just because it is challenging. It also tells you how much he wants to help his parents.
  7. Why do you think the author included this detail about the old coat? How does it contrast with the way Saruni feels in this moment? (detail, p. 19) The author probably included this detail about how Saruni is wearing a hand-me-down coat to show that his family doesn’t have a lot of money to buy things like new coats. The old, oversized coat contrasts with Saruni’s feeling that he is “the richest boy in the world,” like a king who can buy anything.
  8. How is the way the tall skinny man sees the coins different from how Saruni saw them? How does this make Saruni feel? (compare and contrast, p. 19) The tall skinny man sees the coins as a small, laughable amount of money—not nearly enough to buy a bike. Saruni, on the other hand, saw the amount of money as enough to make him rich and allow him to buy anything he wanted—certainly enough money to buy a bike. This difference makes Saruni feel humiliated and disappointed.
  9. Who told Murete about the secret money box? (inference, p. 20) Yeyo probably told Murete about Saruni’s secret money box.
  10. Why do you think Saruni’s parents gave him back his money box? What do they want him to understand? (theme, p. 20) Saruni’s parents probably returned the box because they wanted to reward him for his good intention, which was to save all his money to buy a bike to help his family. They want him to understand that they appreciate him for thinking of his family and helping others.
  11. How does Saruni feel with his new bicycle? Why? (character, p. 20) He feels happy because he has a bike that he’s been dreaming of and proud because he is able to carry things to the market for his mother.

Critical-Thinking Questions

  1. In what ways might this story be different if it were to occur in another part of the world? (setting) Answers will vary. Students might suggest that Saruni would go shopping somewhere else, use a different currency and language, eat different foods, experience different weather, and spend his time doing different activities. 
  2. At the end of the story, Saruni continues to dream about how he could save his money to help his family, this time by buying a cart to ease his mother’s work. How would you choose to help your family if you were to save up “rows and piles of coins” like Saruni? (connecting to text) Answers will vary.

3. SEL Focus

Selflessness/Concern for Others

In this story, Saruni displays selflessness when he saves up for a bike with the purpose of helping his family. As a class, write a definition for selflessness, and identify the details in the story that show Saruni is selfless. Then ask students: What was a situation in which you behaved selflessly? How did it feel to be selfless? Why do you think selflessness is important? Answers will vary. Talk about how helping others can feel good and how receiving an act of selflessness can make someone feel loved. 

4. Skill Building and Writing

Featured Skill: Setting

Distribute or digitally assign the Setting Skill Builder (available in your Resources tab), which will help students identify details that tell them what life is like for Saruni in the place where he lives. Our new Featured Skill Slide Decks will walk students through learning the skill and make teaching easier if students are working asynchronously or independently. After students complete the Skill Builder, ask them to use their answers to respond to the writing prompt on page 20 in their magazines or at the bottom of the digital article.

Great Idea for Remote Learning

  • New! We’ve added Learning Journey Slide Decks for fiction! You can easily assign this ready-made slide deck, which combines the Background Builder Slideshow, the story, interactive questions, and extension activities. Share it as is or customize it to your liking! It's available in your Resources tab.
  • Using an app like Google Jamboard, have students collaborate on a Venn diagram that compares details of the story’s setting in Tanzania with details of the area where they live. 

Differentiate and Customize
For Struggling Readers

Gather students in a small group in your physical or virtual classroom. Display the Background Builder Slideshow. After going through it as a group, assign a detail from the Background Builder to each student. As you read the story together, have students raise their hands when their detail is mentioned, and (if necessary) remind the group what the word or detail means.

For Advanced Readers

The end of the story suggests that Saruni will save up to buy a cart to help his family transport things to the market. Have students work in groups to write the next section of the story that picks up where “My Rows and Piles of Coins” ends.

For ELL Students

Explain to students that the author of this story is from Tanzania, and he includes many details in his story about his home country. Provide several examples of these details: what Saruni calls his mother and father (Yeyo and Murete), the foods at the market (chapati and sambusa), the currency Saruni uses (shillings), and the weather in the story (heavy March rains and chilly July days). Ask: If this story were to take place in the country where you or your family are from, how would these details be different? Allow some time for students to do their own research or ask a family member.

Text-to-Speech