Maddie Makes Money

In this delightful follow up to Maddie Makes a Movie, I loved the pacing and excitement in this ongoing tale about ten-year-old Maddie. As she hatches scheme after scheme to make money to cover the cost of a friend’s broken chandelier, the unfortunate outcomes and delicious feeling of barely controlled chaos drives the story forward.

The author, whose writing is even better than her first Maddie book, does a terrific job of explaining the children’s crazy stunts (it doesn’t hurt that the father in the book is a stuntman, so we get an inside look into the film industry). But, in case there is any doubt in the reader’s mind, there are some wonderful illustrations that leave no doubt as to Maddie’s often catastrophic schemes. The book also includes some lovely teaching moments without coming off as preachy or taking you out of the story.

In reading both books in Ms. Garrett’s series, one can tell she has the ability to get inside the mind of a lovable but precocious ten-year-old. As Maddie often says when she dreams up another of her hair brain schemes: “What could go wrong?” Indeed!

I’m going about my day with a grin on my face because that’s what Maddie does to you. Adults will cringe happily at Maddie’s antics, while children will cheer her on. The author leaves us no time to catch our breath, as Maddie is not one to feel down for long, but quickly comes up with an “idea” to make up for the previous one! The author brilliantly depicts the world through the eyes of a ten-year-old and takes us (older readers) back to our childhood, while inspiring creativity in younger readers and teaching them about world mythilogy in a hilarious way. So don’t hesitate, treat your family to this book!