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THE SECRET LIFE OF MONEY

A KID'S GUIDE TO CASH

A good guide for beginners and browsers, but not suitable for research.

This chatty guide to money works to make the subject appealing to middle-schoolers but is regrettably short on sourcing.

Vermond first defines what money is: More than just dollars and cents, money is "an agreement between people in an economy." Since we can't steal the things we need, she explains, there are multiple ways to make money. Money can be earned by jobs that reward workers for their time and special skills. Alternatively, you could be an entrepreneur and take on the risk and rewards of starting your own business. Of course, there's also imaginary money, aka credit, and its associated perils of debt and interest. The importance of saving is highlighted, from simple self-control and delayed gratification to investing and the advantage of compound interest. The text zips along, accompanied by two-color line art and frequent sidebars, with information on such topics as ancient money and interviews with financial experts. The author has a talent for explaining finance in an enthusiastic, easy-to-understand manner, yet with no works cited or references listed, there are questions about where these facts and figures come from.

A good guide for beginners and browsers, but not suitable for research. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Pub Date: March 1, 2012

ISBN: 978-1-926973-19-7

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Owlkids Books

Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2012

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MISS ETTA AND DR. CLARIBEL

BRINGING MATISSE TO AMERICA

This appealing work stands as both a portrait of two unconventional women and a celebration of the possibilities of arts...

An affectionate, lively examination of the reciprocal relationship between a great artist and two great art lovers.

Etta and Claribel Cone, unmarried sisters from a wealthy Baltimore family, "were born around the time of the Civil War" and became energetic, discerning collectors of modern art, particularly that of Henri Matisse. Claribel Cone was a doctor; Etta Cone managed her parents' household. Both traveled extensively in Europe and, around the turn of the 20th century, fell in with Leo and Gertrude Stein. Informed by Leo's adventuresome sense of aesthetics as well as their own daring tastes, they embraced the works of the young Matisse in 1905 and enthusiastically befriended him. Fillion sketches her characters neatly and swiftly, following the women over the next decades as they amassed what became one of the most significant American collections of modern European art. Though this is not a beginner’s text, she folds in economical explanations of early-20th-century European art, cogently contextualizing Matisse and his contemporaries. Their account is lavishly illustrated in full color by reproductions from the Cone Collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art and Matisse-inflected paintings by the author, who drew extensively on the Cone archive that is also housed at the museum.

This appealing work stands as both a portrait of two unconventional women and a celebration of the possibilities of arts patronage. (author/illustrator's note, bibliography, sources) (Biography. 10-14)

Pub Date: July 25, 2011

ISBN: 978-1-56792-434-3

Page Count: 92

Publisher: Godine

Review Posted Online: June 20, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011

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SURVIVE-O-PEDIA

Mild amusement for armchair travelers, offering (as the intro puts it) “all of the adventure with none of the stitches.”...

From “Airplane Crashes” to “Whitewater” and “Woods,” an alphabetical tally of hazardous situations with (usually) a few coping strategies.

The sixth “Junior Edition” in the Worst Case Scenario franchise gathers abbreviated or rewritten versions of 63 natural hazards covered in the adult volumes but probably new to the intended audience. Each gets a spread of photos and lighthearted cartoons of young folk in extremis, which accompany briefly described scenarios, background explanations, general safety tips and common-sense behaviors. Not much of all this is intended to be seriously helpful—for one thing, the format doesn’t lend itself to quick reference, and for another, the likelihood of any readers running with the bulls in Pamplona, surviving an asteroid collision or encountering a gorilla in the wild is low. Furthermore, victims of sudden amnesia are advised not to seek medical help but just wait, as it’ll go away in 24 hours, a method of cracking open coconuts with a pointed stick is actively dangerous and the only suggested strategy for dealing with killer whales is to “keep your distance.”

Mild amusement for armchair travelers, offering (as the intro puts it) “all of the adventure with none of the stitches.” (Browsing item. 10-12)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-8118-7690-2

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Review Posted Online: July 5, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011

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