If You Made a Million

Author David M. Schwartz and illustrator Steven Kellogg, who teamed up for the jubilant How Much Is a Million, have returned to the subject of money in If You Made a Million. Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician and his team of cheerful kids (and their multitude of animal friends) wield dusters, brooms, plungers, shovels, and cement as they take on feeding fish, dusting ducks, painting pots, transplanting trees, building bridges, and babysitting ogres. For each job, they'll be paid an appropriate amount of money. But soon the questions arise--what does that much money look like, and how can it be spent, saved, or used to pay off a loan?

"One dollar is worth as much as FOUR QUARTERS or TEN DIMES or TWENTY NICKELS or ONE HUNDRED PENNIES," Marvelosissimo explains, and we witness all the coins, crowding the page. How many and how high a stack is $100 in pennies? Ten thousand of them, in a stack 50-feet high, teeter precariously near a phenomenal airport where the gates are reached via tightrope. Next, Marvelosissimo takes readers to the Bank--a huge edifice complete with red carpets, carved slogans ("Save" and "Be Wise"), and frog attendants--where he explains the concepts of interest and bank loans. Grown-up text brings up the rear of the book, providing additional information on banks, interest and compound interest, checking accounts, loans, and income tax. Throughout, Kellogg's illustrations--highly detailed with silly objects, people, and animals--will keep kids' attention, but the pictures never detract from Schwartz's message that "enjoying your work is more important than money," and "making money means making choices." (Ages 4 to 8) --Ericka Lutz