Finance can be a daunting subject at any age, but with budgeting tips, information about topics such as cryptocurrency, and inspiration for budding teen business owners, these timely titles help demystify it.

Chatzky, Jean & others. How to Money: Your Ultimate Visual Guide to the Basics of Finance. illus. by Nina Cosford. 256p. Roaring Brook. May 2022. pap. $19.99. ISBN 9781250791696.
Gr 7 Up–Conversational and contemporary, this engrossing guidebook by Chatzky, Kathryn Tuggle, and the team from the HerMoney website addresses financial issues that women faced in the past, reviews their current opportunities, and projects the possibility for success in their future. Introducing money as a tool for shaping emotional, social, and physical wellbeing, the authors set a tone of achievable tasks and realistic goals. Covering a range of topics from the merit of thrift stores to the possibilities of cryptocurrency, the timely content is informational and entertaining. The standard financial literacy topics of budgeting, employment, education, spending, and investing are interwoven in an interesting manner with an individual’s wants, needs, giving, interests, and personal happiness. With an emphasis on earning, saving, and investing at a young age, the attractively illustrated text can be read sequentially, or teens can select a topic of specific interest. The book’s well-done format includes sidebars, interviews, and an occasional chart, graph, or sample document. The diversity of the interviewed businesswomen speaks to their successes and failures. Examples include Jazz Jennings, Sandra Lopez, and Ilhan Omar. Vocabulary words are highlighted in blue. The book’s back matter includes a 10-page glossary, helpful index, and a selected sources section. A resource for any gender, this engaging guidebook functions as an informational text, supplement to a personal finance course, and research tool. VERDICT Due to the rapid changes in currency trends, investing, and monetary policy, this book will likely not stand the test of time, but it is currently an excellent addition to the school library’s self-help collection.–Lynne Stover

Sichol, Lowey Bundy. Idea Makers: 15 Fearless Female Entrepreneurs. 224p. Chicago Review. Mar. 2022. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781641606745.
Gr 6-10–An entrepreneur can be defined as an innovator who creates and operates a new business, taking on most of the risks and realizing most of the rewards. This engaging book embraces this definition as it introduces readers to inspirational risk-takers. The stories are compelling and feature disappointments as well as successes; these women, who in the end would make millions of dollars and hire thousands of employees, often struggled with disapproval, insufficient funding, and initial product failure. The book is organized by the specific topics of food, health and beauty, science and technology, education, and clothing and fashion. Chapters in each section are devoted to an entrepreneur and explore her interactions with her family and friends, educational experiences, early encounters in the workforce, the inspiration for her business idea, and how she made it a reality. Each chapter includes highlighted sidebars featuring historically successful women entrepreneurs, business tips, and links to business websites and social media accounts. While these success stories are entirely those of Americans, a wide range of racial and cultural diversity is represented. The table of contents includes the entrepreneur’s name and her product, which helps with research and review. The author’s afterword challenges young readers to use hard work and passion to create their own perfect good or service for eager consumers. VERDICT The featured entrepreneurs are fascinating role models who are still playing out their life stories. Therefore, the book’s content will likely become dated. Presently, however, these motivating stories would be a good addition to a middle school or high school’s  library collection.–Lynne Stover