HAISLEY'S BIRTHDAY MONEY

A girl learns how to manage her money in Freer and Villegas’ picture book.

It’s Haisley’s birthday, and when her mother suggests that she’s likely to get money in her birthday cards, Haisley (a little girl with fair skin and red hair) asks what she should do with it. Her mother tells her, “Imagine 3 buckets marked save, spend, and give. / An organized life is the one you should live!” With the first bucket, Haisley’s mother teaches her about saving and earning interest in a bank account and discusses the option of investing in Haisley’s brother’s lemonade stand. Next, they address spending, which means filling the second bucket until Haisley wants to buy something special. The third bucket is for giving—buying a gift for a loved one or donating to a charity. The advice to young budgeters is solid, although the concept of investing is too glossed-over to really gel, and it may be too advanced for this audience. Haider’s painterly illustrations feature wonderfully textured backgrounds and round-faced, cartoonish characters. The buckets’ simple, shape-based designs and bold colors provide a visual distinction to the purpose for each, making it easy for young readers to separate ideas. Freer and Villegas’ poetry scans well throughout, though some metaphors are stretched to achieve their rhymes.

An approachable introduction to budgeting for the very young.