Earning Money

Earning Money is one of four books in Crabtree’s “All About Money” series. Each book begins in exactly the same way in terms of its opening two pages of text (see Excerpt above) with the exception of the last two lines which delineate that particular book’s purpose. Each book is a mixture of factual information, doled out in short chunks, and a simple storyline.

In the “All About Money” series, illustrator Beatriz Castro provides inclusive, cartoon-like artwork in which the content contained in the characters’ speech balloons links with the main text, usually by personalizing some aspect of the main text. For example, when Hubbard’s principal text states,

Maya’s mom explains that most people have to work to make money. To do this, people usually work for someone else, provide a service , or sell something.

The text in a balloon above Mom’s head reads, “My job is working at a café, which provides a service for people.”

Earning Money’s simple storyline revolves around answering Maya’s question concerning how she can get some money. Maya acknowledges that she and her friends do receive a weekly allowance, “but what if we want some extra money?” The answer, of course, is to earn it by working for it. An opportunity to work for money presents itself to Maya when a neighbour needs the contents of her garage sorted into three piles: garbage, recycling, and things to keep. While Maya has to work through the weekend while seeing her friends play, she perseveres and, ultimately, cash in hand, is proud of her achievement, as are her parents.

The closing three pages in the books in the “All About Money” series consist of a five-question multiple choice “Quiz” page, a “Money Words” page that defines words that have been bolded in the text and a page of “Money facts” trivia. In Earning Money, one of the facts is that “In 1988, Australia became the first country to make their paper money out of plastic. Australians can even go swimming with their money.”

The contents of Earning Money are most suitable for members of the intended audience who will soon be looking for tasks around the house that they can monetize.