Millionaires for the Month (Paperback)
Staff Reviews
Rule follower Felix and rule bender Benji are reluctant field trip partners on a museum trip, and during lunch break they find a wallet in Central Park. And... woah! According to the driver's license, the wallet belongs to Laura Friendly who founded a Facebook-like app "that parents and grandparents like." So, she's got to be a billionaire, right? And what's $20 to a billionaire? That's like a penny to anyone else. So Benji buys hot dogs, chips, and soda for their lunch with Laura's $20 bill. They turn the wallet in, but instead of a grateful Laura Friendly raining reward money down on the boys, they meet an angry billionaire who decides to teach them the value of a penny. The result is both hilarious and poignant as Felix and Benji race to spend the value of a penny doubled every day for thirty days - $5,368,709.12 - in one month! There are lots of rules - no buying investments - but also lots of pizza for the whole school and in the end many lessons learned about both money and the value of friendship. If author Stacy McAnulty has a super power, it's writing side-splitting books about STEM.
— Jenny ChouDescription
How would you spend five million dollars in 30 days? A billionaire's wallet, a bizarre challenge, and an unlikely friendship send two kids on a wild adventure. From the author of The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl.
Felix Rannells and Benji Porter were never supposed to be field-trip partners. Felix is a rule follower. Benji is a rule bender. They're not friends. And they don't have anything to talk about. Until . . .
They find a wallet. A wallet that belongs to tech billionaire Laura Friendly. They're totally going to return it-but not before Benji "borrows" twenty dollars to buy hot dogs. Because twenty dollars is like a penny to a billionaire, right?
But a penny has value. A penny doubled every day for thirty days is $5,368,709.12! So that's exactly how much money Laura Friendly challenges Felix and Benji to spend. They have thirty days. They can't tell anyone. And there are LOTS of other rules. But if they succeed, they each get ten million dollars to spend however they want.
Challenge accepted! They rent cool cars, go to Disney World, buy pizza for the whole school-and that's just the beginning! But money can't buy everything or fix every problem. And spending it isn't always as easy and fun as they thought it would be. . . .
As smart as it is entertaining, Millionaires for the Month is a thought-provoking story about friendship, privilege, and the value of a penny.
About the Author
Stacy McAnulty is the author of many books for young readers, including The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl, The World Ends in April, chapter book series The Dino Files and GoldieBlox, and picture books including Excellent Ed,101 Reasons Why I'm NOT Taking a Bath, and Beautiful. A former mechanical engineer, Stacy writes about math and science with authority. Visit her online at stacymcanulty.com or follow her on social media at:
Twitter: @stacymcanulty
Instagram: StacyMcAnulty
Facebook: StacyMcAnultyAuthor
Praise For…
“The absorbing spending spree reads like a fun family film, gleefully stuffed with the very opulence it warns against.... Cinematic, over-the-top decadence, a tense race against time, and lessons on what’s truly valuable.” –Kirkus Reviews
“The realities of middle school are well wrought, with crushes and crushing embarrassment alike.... The final message about money rings true.” –Publishers Weekly
