Gogo's Pay Day
by
Anne Rockwell
Children's Fiction ages 5-8.
This is an unusual topic for a children's book - banking and how budgeting and loans work.
It is made more palatable by featuring a naive clown who spends all his paycheck money without thinking about paying the rent, paying for food, etc. We owned this book when I was a kid and I remember it being kind of odd. I see that the copyright is 1978.
I do remember the day that I thought I had enough money for a fancy pencil, then the store clerk added tax and I didn't have enough money. I was probably about 7 years old. That was confusing, and if a little kid can learn about budgeting and banking at age 7 by reading a book about a clown then Anne Rockwell has accomplished her goal. I wonder if there is another children's book that talks about sales tax?
I see from the back flap description that this book is a sequel to "Gogo's Car Breaks Down". I didn't know about that book, and unfortunately my library doesn't own it, so I guess I won't find out more about Gogo. The library probably owned it back in 1978. I really don't know whether to recommend this book or not. If mommy or daddy work in a bank it would make sense to read this book. Other kids may not find it to be interesting.
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P. S. I see this one listed in our catalog:
| "Tara pays up"! by Kirsten Larsen and Paige Billin-Frye. Gr. 1-3. Tara finally saves $8 to buy a kit at the crafts store only to find that the cashier wants another 80 cents. Explaining the concept of paying taxes for city services, Tara's older sister shells out the change and makes a deal: Tara must pay her 10 cents every time she uses a city service. Soon those dimes mount up, as Tara learns that she uses tax-paid services every time she goes to school, turns on the faucet, reads a library book, or even walks on the sidewalk. Nicely paced, the story imparts information without becoming bogged down in a civics lesson. Small sidebars on many pages provide additional facts, but most readers will stick with the narrative, which shows that tax dollars go toward many services that children use. This paperback will be a good addition to community-service units in the primary grades. CarolynPhelan. |
| From BookList, August 1, 2006, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. |
