The Secret Life of Money: A Kid's Guide to Cash (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Secret Life of Money: A Kid's Guide to Cash Elizabeth Bush Vermond, Kira . The Secret Life of Money: A Kid's Guide to Cash; illus. by Clayton Hanmer. Owlkids, 2012. 151p. Library ed. ISBN 978-1-926973-19-7 $19.95 Paper ed. ISBN 978-1-926973-18-0 $13.95 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-926973-20-3 $13.95 M Gr. 4-7. This looks like a book about personal money management for kids, or possibly an overview of how American (U.S. and Canadian) monetary systems operate. [End Page 375] Instead, Vermond delivers an unfocused mashup of personal and international finance that is likely to leave kids with little other than platitudes about saving their money, going to college, and distinguishing the International Monetary Fund from the World Bank. Chapters are randomly topical, with information failing to build upon established concepts and such basic terms as "bankruptcy" languishing without definition, either in the text or glossary. Glaring contradictions pop up: advice against upscale labels at an upscale price because they mask clothing identical to that at lower prices is upended by a discussion of how "cheap clothes [are] not cheap." Generalizations and simplifications can be downright insulting, such as the assertion that two-income families have more disposable income (tell that to minimum-wage workers who can't make ends meet on two salaries). Other issues are suspiciously out of date, such as a student loan for college presented unquestioningly as a form of "good debt" or an example of annual return rates on investments at 10 to 12%. The strongest sections in this presentation are more concerned with philosophy and ethics than cash, as Vermond makes some useful points about the way we attempt to place value on different types of jobs, how culture figures into definitions of poverty, and even how to weigh the upside and downside of used-clothing donations. Libraries with broad collections on money and finance may want to include this title, but kids looking for sound, clear advice on how to grow pennies into dollars should probably invest their book-buying money elsewhere. Copyright © 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois