Flat Broke: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Greed

May 15, 2011

A 14-year-old greedily launches himself headlong into the entrepreneurial world, with amusing consequences.

In the sequel to Liar, Liar (2011), Kevin's parents have taken away his allowance to punish him for his creative lying. Never impeded by misfortune (or a guilty conscience or the advice of everyone wiser than he), he decides it's a great time to make money. First he provides the perfect venue for poker games, even though some of his hapless player-victims begin to lose more money than they have. With the gambling business running admirably, he starts cleaning neighbors' garages, not worrying that depositing the trash in store Dumpsters is illegal. Then he begins "borrowing" a golf cart to sell cookies and coffee to college students. But he steps on too many people on the way up, inevitably leading to his downfall. Kevin's good-natured—if oversimplified—view of the world is pretty funny, and while readers will anticipate problems long before he does, it just adds to the fun. Chapter titles taken from a fictitious book on making money—"The Successful Person Has Vision That Others Lack," for example—contrast nicely with the disastrous outcome of Kevin's grandiose plans. That his droll first-person account only lightly sketches other characters hardly matters.

A jocular, fast-paced voyage into the sometimes simple but never quiet mind of an ambitious eighth grader. (Fiction. 9-12)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

July 1, 2011

Gr 5-9-In this follow-up to Liar, Liar (Random, 2011), 14-year-old Kevin has lost his allowance for a month thanks to his lying habit, so he has to find a way to make some cash. As quick as a wink, he puts his business savvy and his creativity to work and gets poker games going, delivers homemade cookies to a college campus, and starts a beauty service (with his big sister's help), among other initiatives. The money begins to flow in, but so does the trouble; not everyone is thrilled with Kevin's schemes, including the campus cops, his friends, and a local business owner. Throughout the book, business lessons are woven in by the clever narrator. Fans of the first book will enjoy this quick, fun lesson in cause and effect.-Amanda Moss Struckmeyer, Middleton Public Library, WI

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2011
Grades 5-8 With his allowance suspended as a result of the antics in Liar Liar (2011), Kevin has to expand his horizons in order to get some pocket money and impress his infatuation, Tina. With the same zealousness he applied to crafting an intricate web of deceit in the first book, he rips through a few business books and sets his sights on nothing short of becoming a mini Trump: A whatchamacallit, a financial empire, was not out of the question if I worked hard enough. He plays his friends and family for all they're worth, skimming a cut off the top and diversifying his portfolio from poker games to dealing caffeine and sugar to stressed-out college kids and emptying neighborhood garages. If the unnamed narrator of Paulsen's Lawn Boy (2007) is the plucky entrepreneur who skyrockets to riches, Kevin is the wannabe mogul who sees an angle a mile away but trips over his own sky's-the-limit aspirations. A glib, quick read to launch a thousand MBAs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2011
After his previous comedy of errors (see Liar, Liar, rev. 3/11), middle-school entrepreneur Kevin has had his allowance discontinued as punishment and is now desperate for money -- mostly to impress Tina Zabinski, a girl he can barely talk to but who he's convinced is the love of his life. Kevin sees himself as kingmaker: he'll create projects for others and take a cut of the profits. These include a beauty advice business for his sister, a tutoring venture for a classmate, a catering enterprise with his friends, and a couple of floating poker games where he's the house. Kevin's naive self-confidence more generally reflects that of a younger boy, but his enthusiasm for fame, fortune, and free enterprise is infectious. When Kevin's ventures spiral south, his parents remind him, "Getting out of trouble is a whole lot more of a hassle than staying out of trouble." Yes, but probably not as much fun. This is an undemanding read with a nicely underplayed moral, a solid investment for reluctant readers. betty carter

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2012
His allowance discontinued, middle-school entrepreneur Kevin (Liar, Liar) is desperate for money (mostly to impress a girl). Kevin sees himself as kingmaker: he'll create projects for others and take a cut of the profits; his enthusiasm for fame, fortune, and free enterprise is infectious. This is an undemanding read with a nicely underplayed moral, a solid investment for reluctant readers.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)