Jul 25 2008
“A Smart Girl’s Guide to Money” by Nancy Holyoke
Fun Friday - The Weekly Review of Children’s Books
I originally picked up A Smart Girl’s Guide to Money: How to Make It, Save It, and Spend It by Nancy Holyoke and Ali Douglass because my niece (hi Hailey!) had checked it out, and I saw it when she returned it. I figured I had read plenty of guides on how to manage money as an adult - it was time to check out what the kids were being taught.
Again, I was surprised at how knowledge-packed the book turned out to be. Perhaps I’m just not expecting enough out of children’s books, I don’t know, but so far I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the depth of the information given.
In A Smart Girl’s Guide to Money, American Girl teaches the whole cycle of money - it gives a list of 101 ways to make money (selling items or providing a variety of services) and also how to figure out if the business venture is profitable or not by doing a cost analysis. It even talks about keeping a ledger and staying on a budget. If there was a girl out there who read this book and took it to heart, she’d be a miniature Donald Trump (but hopefully with better hair!) by age 25.
The book also tackles sticky subjects from how to ask for an allowance raise, to recognizing and reigning in the impulse buying while at the mall. It even touches ever so briefly on putting money into the stock market and paying taxes on what you earn. (I told you I was shocked at how much was in here).
Yet it still managed to stay very readable and interesting to the average tweener (10 - 14 year old range). It had lots of great drawings and quite a few multiple choice quizzes.
So comes the question: Would a boy read it? No, I would say probably not - too many references to buying nail polish and new clothes at the mall, not to mention the fact that all of the drawings are of girls. I haven’t looked to see, but I would hope something similar but aimed for the boy population has been produced, because it really did break down money management into children-sized pieces.
If your daughter wants to make money this summer, or if you’ve noticed that she tends to spend her money too freely and you’re hoping to give her a little direction, this would be an awesome book to get for her. I honestly can’t think of anything critical or negative to say about it.
Warning: Childless adult is about to give out parenting advice - ignore at will!!
If I had a daughter, I would give her this book when starting her allowance, so she could be pointed in the right direction on how to handle her money, instead of just being handed money each week. I was a pretty open spender as a child - I once spent $50 on candy and had a stomachache for a week. I really could’ve used this book as a kid.
Overall, I give A Smart Girl’s Guide to Money 4.75 out of 5.
Hava
