This book is really great for a math class if you are starting to talk about interest. This would be great for students to get an idea of what interest is and how it works. It talks about what you can buy with a certain amount of money and how you can pay for things you would like. Really cute illustrations and it teaches value in a good way. ( )

I see this book being used fantastically with a math lesson. Especially when introducing coins and money to younger groups. The author does a great job using words to describe how money works and the actual visuals from the illustrator add an additional visual aid. A teacher could also have the students use fake coins with this book. When I looked at the criteria for evaluating science and math books I think this book did a good job with encouraging math and making students think about money in their own lives. ( )

The Marvelossimo the Mathematical Magician explains how exactly money works to the character, who starts out by earning one penny. Her penny grows and grows until it becomes one million dollars! Along the way, the magician explains the value of different coins and bills, their equivalents, how tall or how heavy that many coins of bills would be, interest, saving, spending, and investing. All of the important financial topics for children to be familiar with are explained in a simple, imaginative way. The book shows the magic of watching your money grow. I read this book as a child in school, and although I did not remember the book well, I remember doing a lesson based on it. This is a classic book that has been used as a tool for teaching money to children for many years. ( )

This book explains how money, investments, banks work. It explains how to save money and how to make a first million and how it would look like, how much it is. Every child needs to know financial literacy. it is a very important book. I love the illustrations too! ( )

"If You Made a Million" teaches kids all about money. The book starts off small, with a penny, a nickel, a dime, etc. It eventually builds to 1 million dollars, and each amount of money is explained with smaller value coins or one-dollar bills (example: 100 dollars is 100 one-dollar bills, or ten thousand pennies). The weight and height of the stacks of dollar bills and pennies is shown as well. The purposes of banks are also explained, as well as interest and loans. The reader is told that for larger sums of money, checks should be used; it is then explained how checks work, and how the bank actually gets the money to the person with the check. When the children in the book earn one million dollars, they are shown many different things they could buy with it, but are also told that if they put it in the bank, the amount of interest earned would have them set for life. But it's explained that since it's their money, they can choose what to do with it, which is what makes money fun. One thing I really enjoyed from this book is when the children are told that just because a job pays well doesn't mean they should take the job; enjoying your job is more important than the money you make. I honestly really enjoyed this book, but that's most likely because I loved it as a kid and now I'm nostalgic for it. I think the concepts of banks, interest, and loans are explained really well, though the amount of interest that money accumulates now may be different from when this book was published (1989). To be honest, this book did make me a little depressed since money has less value than it did in the 80's. I don't even think you can buy anything with one cent anymore, contrary to what the book describes. Other than the possibility that this book may convince a child that they can buy something for one cent, I think that "If You Made a Million" is a great way to teach children about money. ( )