Lawn Boy - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
One day I was 12 years old and broke. Then Grandma gave me Grandpa's old riding lawnmower. I set out to mow some lawns. More people wanted me to mow their lawns. And more and more. . . . One client was Arnold the stockbroker, who offered to teach me about "the beauty of capitalism. Supply and Demand. Diversify labor. Distribute the wealth." "Wealth?" I said. "It's groovy, man," said Arnold.

If I'd known what was coming, I might have climbed on my mower and putted all the way home to hide in my room. But the lawn business grew and grew. So did my profits, which Arnold invested in many things. And one of them was Joey Pow the prizefighter. That's when my 12th summer got really interesting.

Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Courtesy of Teens Read Too July 5, 2007
46 out of 47 found this review helpful

LAWN BOY provides some quick entertainment. It's a very manageable read at less than 90 pages. Readers are treated to quite a few laughs and a little business education.

The main character is a 12-year-old boy. His grandmother gives him a riding lawn mower for his birthday. She says it was his late grandfather's mower. Miracle of all miracles, the thing actually works, and he sets about mowing their pitiful excuse for a yard.

When he finishes the yard, a neighbor wonders if he can get his own lawn mowed. Soon he's mowing for the whole neighborhood. In a few short days, he has over three hundred dollars stuffed in his pockets.

Arnold, a stay-at-home stockbroker, would like his lawn mowed; but he admits to being short on cash. He offers a deal -- mow his lawn and he'll invest the cost of the mowing in the stock market and hopefully increase the investment. Boy, does he!

Before he knows it, he has a growing business and more money than he can even imagine. He has a stock portfolio that would be the envy of any businessperson. And just think, his only dream at the start of the summer was to have enough to afford a new inner tube for his bike tire.

The problem now is how do you break it to your parents that in five short weeks you have tons of money? Will they believe you?

Gary Paulsen has done it yet again. His die-hard fans will like the story, and reluctant readers will find it a quick and satisfying read. It's also a terrific read-aloud that will have them laughing and teach them a little about capitalism in the bargain.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

4 out of 5 stars

Stock Market Concepts in a Story! November 29, 2007
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

I really enjoyed reading this book together with my 9 year old who is an advanced reader. I don't know if he really absorbed what was actually happening when the stock grew and eventually split, but he did understand the boy was making money in stocks and was exposed to new financial terms, which is a good start.

A short paragraph about the previous lawn mower in the neighborhood (evidently not a child) running off with the wife of one of his customers was unnecessary. I would have preferred this idea not be introduced and I read past it without drawing attention to it.

When it comes to money, emotions are always involved. The boy continually frets about telling his parents how much money he's earned because he worries his parents will feel bad and he will be bragging. His emotions also play a role in sacrificing summer vacation and fun when working to make a profit. There is a fair amount of humor through out the book and characters are added slowly making it easier for children to distinguish and remember who is who. My son was definitely looking forward to reading the next chapter each night.

Woven into the story are the concepts of shares of stock, a stockbroker, fees, commissions, partnerships, employees, competition, and more. When you are looking for something entertaining to begin teaching your child about finances, try this engaging book.

4 out of 5 stars

not as great as his other books August 2, 2007
11 out of 13 found this review helpful

I just finished reading this with my nine year old son. We've read and LOVED Hatchet and REALLY LOVED Harris and Me. So, I suppose it would be hard to crank out another really great book. This one is short and simple. It came at a good time, though, because I'm trying to teach my son about the stock market. This certainly got his attention! Cute, but nothing to get excited about. If you haven't read Harris and Me, you haven't really lived.

5 out of 5 stars

Great book for young boys December 28, 2007
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

My 10 year old son (who does not particularly like to read) loved this book. He read it in less than a week (it is only 88 pages), and would frequently talk about it - telling us what was going on in the story - the boy starts a lawn mowing business and one of his clients invests the money for him. We would get daily updates as to how much money the boy has now. It also sparked some discussion as to how savings, investing and 401Ks and other retirement accounts work. Not your normal dinner conversation with a 10 yr old. A great find for any boy that is into lawn mowers or entrepenurship!

4 out of 5 stars

Lawn Boy February 9, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

We used this book in a 3rd grade book club. The kids loved the book. They found it easy to read and enjoyed the length of each chapter since each chapter was short, they met with success. The topic of stocks was above them and probably better suited for a 4th or 5th grader. But they did identify with making money since most had jobs around the house that they earned money for and they were doing an economy lesson in school at the time so some of the concepts really reinforced what they were doing in class.

The other nice thing about this book is that it is contemporary to their lives, many of the books we have read in book club are great works of litature but they were written a lot of years before their time. This was a book that talked about current tv shows and things have happened in recent times.

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