Literature Review
Chapter Books for a content integrated read aloud, book groups, or just to recommend to kids who are particularly engaged with the content.
How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O’Connor is one of my favorite middle grade books for book groups. In a desperate effort to help her family after they become homeless, Georgina schemes to steal a dog in order to get the reward money. A sweet and empathy building book with great fodder for discussing economic issues such as homelessness, eviction, compassion, responsibility, and poverty. Wonderful for thinking through moral dilemmas and ethics in relationship to money.
Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate is a great complement to How to Steal a Dog. Also about a family struggling with possible eviction and homelessness. Jackson, a nine year old boy, has started to see his imaginary friend, Crenshaw–a giant skateboarding cat, as he faces the stress of his family’s impending homelessness. This story does a great job of bringing up economic and life choices, cause and effect, and illustrates one of many ways children can struggle with the anxiety of food and home insecurity.
Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen is a wonderfully funny and accessible memoir about starting your own business, working hard, the opportunities, traps, and dilemmas of money! A great read aloud or book group text to enrich an economics unit.
The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies is the first in a series about a brother & sister who have a lemonade stand war. Filled with economics terms and concepts, including competition, marketing, and math, this fun story is a great companion to Lawn Boy and another good one for combining business and ethics conversations.
Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald is a quirky and interesting mystery about Theodora Tenpenny, who must figure out how she and her mother can survive and keep their home after her beloved grandfather dies. With only $463, Theodora must face how to go on–and what to do with her suspicion that her grandfather–a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art–may have stolen a painting! A smart story that will keep kids engaged and guessing as they puzzle through the economic and ethical decisions Theo must struggle with.
Picture Books to support content learning as a read aloud or as part of an integrated content library, or to function as mentor texts to inspire students to share their learning in a similar format.
Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts is a wonderful economics story that illustrates the difference between wants and needs, and the power of consumerism and fads. A great introduction for discussing economics concepts in real life contexts.
The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor is one of my favorites from one of my favorite authors. With a first person narrator writing in poetic form and abstract Southwestern art, this book is a thoughtful meditation on value. The young girl telling the story calls a family meeting about their lack of money, only to become convinced that their family is rich as they calculate the value of what they do have. Beautiful sentiment, language, and persuasion, as well as a concept of budgeting and money: another great tool for kicking off a discussion about economics.
Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton is a biographical picture book of the inventor of the Super-Soaker. It’s a great story about innovation, determination, and mindset, as well as a wonderful resource for kicking off discussions about entrepreneurship.
One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi is a fun and rich story. Easily integrated into the math classroom as a great rich math task–start by asking students whether they would rather get $10 a day for allowance or a single penny on the first day and double their allowance each day for a month. Have them write about their answer and why. After you read this book, have them revisit their writing, show the work of their assumptions, and reflect. Then, connect the content to a discussion of saving one’s money instead of spending.
One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference by Katie Smith Milway is published by CitizenKid–which means you should just buy it! Based on the true story of a young boy in Ghana who must drop out of school to help support his family. A small loan allows him to buy a single hen–which he then uses to build a flock of hens and eventually becomes a wildly successful farmer who supports his community by offering microloans similar to the one he used to launch his business. A wonderful introduction to entrepreneurship, savings and investments, and the world of microloans.
The Marvelous Thing that Came from a Spring by Gilbert Ford is a good partner book to read with Whoosh! The story of the accidental invention of the Slinky and the way the inventor created and marketed the product is a fun way to teach innovation and perseverance as the traits needed for entrepreneurship. Use it with some Slinkies in your classroom!
One Plastic Bag by Miranda Paul is the inspirational true story of Isatou Ceesay who turned trash into a business in Gambia. When Isatou, as a young girl, realizes that the goats her community relies on are dying because they are eating plastic bags that are thrown away, she begins to collect and reuse the bags–and builds a business selling purses made from the found plastic bags. A great model of citizenship, entrepreneurship, and ecology. Powerful!
How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz is the memoir of the author’s family as war refugees. One day, his father spends the little food money they have on a map–instead of buying his family food. Though the family goes hungry that day, the map feeds the boy in ways he couldn’t have anticipated. While not explicitly an economics book, it is another good prompt for discussions of what is important, how we value things and ideas, and how we make economics decisions.
Money Madness by David Adler is a solid, non-fiction introduction to the history of money, its purpose, and how it’s used in our economy. Straightforward, good illustrations, and solid basis for concrete discussion of economics.
It Doesn’t Grow On Trees by Jon Bryant is available primarily as an ebook designed for kids and adults to read together. It’s interesting and well-written and is a good resource for talking to students about responsibility, saving money, budgeting, credit cards, and a host of other economic issues that will support them in both academic and real life financial literacy.
The Integrated Curriculum Classroom 