The Bookish Elf: Shanti Saves Her Money, by Lisa Bullard (illustrated by Christine Schneider)

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Shanti Saves Her Money, by Lisa Bullard (illustrated by Christine Schneider)

Shanti Saves Her Money
Series: Cloverleaf Books Money Basics
Author: Lisa Bullard
Illustrator: Christine Schneider
Publisher: Millbrook Press/Lerner Publishing Group
Publication Date: September 1, 2013
Source: NetGalley
View on Amazon

Shanti already has a spend jar and a save jar in which to put the money she gets from her allowance and from gifts, but now she has a specific goal in mind. Her parents are taking her to the Fun Park and she wants to go on the Monster Ride TWICE. That means her parents need to save up for the Fun Park tickets and Shanti needs to save money for the ride tickets. It's not easy but with a few money saving choices they can do it.

There are a lot of books on the market about financial literacy for young children using the idea of separate jars, and I must say I love the idea. Magda and I have been using a similar idea for about a year or more and it's great. Some books have a religious theme (like Three Cups) and include the idea of allocating some money for charitable giving. Other books are secular but still include the "spend-save-share" idea (like the Joe the Monkey books).

Shanti Saves Her Money specifically focuses on a little girl saving for a goal, but it also mentions that she puts some of her money into the bank to save for college, and that she uses some of her money to buy little things that she likes, like candy. She gathers money from various sources such as her allowance, doing extra chores like tutoring her brother, and gifts from relatives. She and her parents also save money by spending less money on entertainment expenses while they're saving up for their goal.

Magda's take: "I have a save jar and a spend jar too! What's a monster ride? Can I save money and go on that?"

My take: I love these books that reinforce the notion of money management for young children (I've reviewed others on this site, which you can see below). I particularly liked the idea of having a special save jar for a specific goal. After we read this book, Magda and I counted the money in her own spend jar and realized with just a little bit more saving she'll have enough to buy a bracelet to go on the rides at the Provincial Exhibition next week, which means she'll be able to go on unlimited rides instead of just the one or two that we normally pay for. So that's exciting!