Birdie’s Billions, realistic fiction ages 9 and up already think about

You need to read this book. I love it when our 12 year-old says something like that. When he does, he usually follows it up with some sort of qualifier like, it’s really good, the chapters are funny or some other attribute before going off to find his phone. He read Birdie’s Billions in just under a week before saying that to me. My inner-dad voice was telling me to be wary of his recommendation.

Part of that monologue was because of the subtitle to the book. Does finders keepers count when it’s half a million dollars? That is a great hook and really makes young readers curious-because everyone has fantasized about finding buckets of money. However, for me, the specter of believability was thin on accepting this premise as anything more than passing fancy. The image on Birdie’s Billions shows an almost teen girl skating down the street with a backpack full of money flowing out of it.

Birdie is a 12 year-old girl who loves cats and skateboarding. She’s also aware that her mom loves her very much, but doesn’t have much money. There are instances where Birdie is unable to do the things that her friends engage in, her house isn’t as nice, clothes aren’t as trendy and she can’t give the same quality gifts as anyone else. She doesn’t wallow in pity, nor does she attempt to hide who she is, but she wishes that things were different.

All of that changes to some degree when she’s skateboarding near an abandoned house. Being an explorer at heart she goes inside the beaten up house to follow something in the shadows. She sees a cat saunter around the house and peeks behind an exposed section of drywall when see spots a bag. This is the kind of bag that everyone dreams about. It’s loaded with cash, more money than a kid her ages, as well as, many adults have ever seen in one location.

Birdie crams as much as she can in the backpack she’s got on and leaves the house quickly. Unfortunately, as she’s about the skate away from the property a strange man approaches her. Is this man just trying to keep wayward kids from the abandoned house or does he have a more nefarious purpose?  She also sees a group of jerk kids who will almost certainly try to take her stuff, except this backpack is now loaded with more than $100,000. Thanks to the middle school grapevine, she discovers that this house is due to be demolished in a couple of days, which doesn’t give her much time to get the rest of the cash.

In the immediate future, her mom needs things, bills are due and her friend’s birthday is coming up. Birdie comes up with a scheme that will allow her mom to receive the money anonymously. However, this scheme will force Birdie to lie numerous times. Sometimes the lie isn’t anything big and other times it’s a big, easy-to-verify story that goes wildly out of control. It doesn’t careen about like a slapstick novel. The stories are all grounded in realistic fiction that illustrate the complicated intersection of one’s hard-woven character, questionable choices and not telling the truth can make things go sideways.

What readers will like about Birdie’s Billions is that it’s not sappy, preachy, or something that kids can’t relate to. It doesn’t judge Birdie for taking the money, her actions or how her friends live. One could say that it puts the ‘realistic’ in realistic fiction. Told through another lens, Birdie’s Billions could have had a Scooby-Doo feel or Ritchie Rich narrative. That’s another story and one that wouldn’t have been as effective.

Here, Birdie’s Billions tells a story, teaches a lesson and does so without making readers roll their eyes about believability, hearing “I told you so” in their heads or making it alien for middle school. The content in the book is spot on for ages nine and up. The chapters’ ranges from five to eight pages are a great length for upper elementary school readers to cut their teeth on. Those middle school readers will be able to read the book on level and maybe even craft a nice book report about it too.

Birdie’s Billions is by Edith Cohn and available on Bloomsbury Children’s Books.

There are affiliate links in this post.