Weissman, Elissa Brent. The Short Seller.7 May 2013, Atheneum Books for Young Readers
E ARC from Edelweiss Above the Tree Line
Copy received from Raab Associates after review was posted.
Lindy isn't great in math, and hasn't been feeling well. When she is diagnosed with mono, she ends up staying home, and her father asks her to buy some stock for him, since the markets close at 4:00 p.m. and he can't do this from work. Intrigued by how quickly it is possible to make money, and sick and disappointed because she can't take ice skating lessons as planned, Lindy gets $100 from her father to invest as she sees fit. When her money does well, she decides that since her parents have so much money just gathering dust, that she should invest some of that as well. Armed with a couple of books and some internet tips, Lindy spends her days trading stock. She earns a bit, but things go bad and she loses a huge amount of her parents' money. Trying to get it back, she invests in a blow dryer manufacturing business her sister tells her is in trouble, and manages to earn the money back. She breathes a sigh of relief until her father is accused of insider trading, and she has to confess to her wrong doing and hope to get her father off.
Strengths: This certainly has a lot of good information about the stock market, and lots of math. If math teachers are looking for a novel to use in the classroom, this might be it. This author won the 2011 Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Award for Nerd Camp.
Weaknesses: This not a topic I've ever had a student ask for, and the only other math-heavy book I can think of, Alan Ritchie's 1990 Erin McEwan, Your Days Are Numbered, didn't circulate at all, so has been deaccessioned. While vaguely intriguing (How will Lindy be punished for causing such a huge problem?), this one is a bit slow and not as funny as the other titles by this author. I was a bit surprised.
Here is a trailer for the book:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBN_Shqbpps&feature=youtu.be,
Sad I read this review, because I have great hopes for it! At first I was wondering why you had a copy, and I haven't seen mine. I'm supposed to have one on the way.
ReplyDeleteMy 8 1/2 year old son read NERD CAMP and loved it. I knew my daughter and I loved it when we read it, but it was neat to see that her being on the older end of MG at the time loved it, and he on the young end enjoyed it too.
Did you hear she's writing a sequel?