A Smart Girl's Guide to Money: How to Make It, Save It, And Spend It

Gr. 4-7. This new offering in American Girl's A Smart Girl's Guide series offers advice on earning, saving, and spending money. Holyoke addresses topics such as feelings about money, launching a business, becoming a smart shopper, and investing. Most subjects are tackled on a generously illustrated double-page spread, which may incorporate tips, quotes, and a quiz intended to help kids discover their attitudes about money. The text is upbeat and informal, but although the information is appropriate to middle-school readers of both genders, the emphasis on clothing and makeup and the absence of boys in the illustrations are likely to deter male browsers. Appended with a list of 101 moneymaking tips, this book is an engaging introduction to personal economics. Libraries wanting to capture a wider audience may prefer Jeanne Kiefer's Jobs for Kids (2003) or Andrew Clements' fictional Lunch Money (2005). Kay Weisman