This was one of the gifts for my grandaughter and she was pleased with it.

My daughter has been asking about ways to make money for the last couple of weeks, so I decided to get her this book. It gave her some ideas and encouraged her to look for more ideas on her own.

Money is such a simple thing, but the way we earn it, save it, spend it, owe it, etc. is a very complex thing, indeed.

A Smart Girl's Guide to Money is an exceptionally well done book aimed at a young audience -- hopefully before they make the uninformed miscalculations that drive an alarming number of Americans into debt, sometimes before they graduate from school.

How wonderful that American Girl has combined both survival skills and entertainment to benefit their target audience! Well done!

Does your young lady know the value of money? How do you teach her to make money work for her is wonderfully expressed in this book. Preteens(and all of us) need to know how to live on what money they have and refrain from debt and overspending ..a life-style habit can begin early when the young girl knows expectations of her in regard to money.

The first thing my daughter, age 11, read was the 101 moneymaking ideas and unfortunately, she was "smart" enough to point out that it really wasn't 101 unique ideas. For example: Decorate tins for Valentines day (#98) is similar to #99, #100 and #101 which are to decorate tins for other special days. Nevertheless, I pointed out that one idea can have different uses... She seemed satisfied with that answer and quickly moved on to "How to get a raise" in the allowance section.

I was impressed at the succinct ways in which ideas are addressed. The book includes:
~ many different emotions associated with money (including friendships and partnerships),
~ how everyone's personality is different (creating a different spending style)
~ values of money (good or bad purchases and needs or wants)
~ budgeting (including plastic money, use of checks with ledger entry, and types of investments)
~ a few quizzes such as one to figure out what type of work is best for you

Don't expect a lot of heavy discussion and explanations. As I said, the text is succinct, even to the point where you may need to add some parent explanations. Parent involvement is a good thing though, because the sooner you discuss finances with your child, the better off he or she will be.