More Children's Books For Economists

Find the entire series of posts here. The concepts of money and investment, as well as the virtues of thrift are presented in If You Made a Million by David Schwartz (with illustrations by Steven Kellogg). I have half-heartedly toyed with the idea of including it as recommended reading for the syllabus of my upcoming Cost-Benefit Analysis course for undergraduates because of its excellent demonstration of compounding interest and bank loans, but you will also find the demonstration of income tax and relative value to be helpful for youngsters. (Tip: Help indoctrinate your child with good habits by pointing out the "Save" and "Be Wise" slogans on the banks during the story.)

If You Made a Million is really a sequel to the author's previous book How Much is a Million? that is also well worth sharing with your kids, and both books are narrated by the delightful Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician. Even adults will enjoy the demonstrations of the magnitude of a million, billion, and trillion dollars. I highly recommend both these books.

Also, for $13 you can order the Chicka Chicka 1 2 3...and more stories about counting DVD from Scholastic that includes both of these books as bonus extra stories. I think 1 2 3 is not nearly as good as Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, but the Million series included makes the DVD well worth it and it gives you an idea of what inflection you should use in your voice when reading 1 2 3.