Millionaires For the Month is a fun book that allows kids to live out their fantasies! After Felix and Benji find and return a wallet, its billionaire owner challenges them to spend $5.5 million dollars in a month. There are rules and stipulations, and the boys can’t tell their parents.

This book would be a fun class read aloud. You can’t help making your own mental list of what you would buy when you read a book like this. There were problems for the characters along the way - not just spending the money, but facing up to their families, who they weren’t allowed to tell or to provide with needed gifts.

Every kid would enjoy living vicariously through Felix and Benji!

With thanks to NetGalley for an early copy in return for an honest review.

You might think it would be easy to spend $5,368,709.12 in 30 days but throw in a few wild rules and it's suddenly much more difficult. Felix and Benji learned a lot of lessons during their 30 day challenge...about friendship, family, and money.

There is also a great math connections section in the back and the book is a great springboard for financial literacy conversations/lessons.

Lots of lessons to be learned in this entertaining story of a very expensive contest. With two very different but love-able characters, this book is a great way to teach characterization! I can’t wait to share with my students!

Millionaires for the Month by Stacy McAnulty
Felix is a rule follower. Benji is a rule breaker. They are not friends, but on a school field trip they find a wallet that belongs to the founder of a huge social media platform. Through a turn of events, the woman the wallet belongs to gives the boys $5,000,0000. If they spend it all in 30 days, she will give them $10,000,000 to spend however they choose. But the $5,000,000 comes with rules, the biggest of which is they can’t tell anyone about the “game” or possible reward. It turns out to not be as easy as the boys anticipated.
This books has a fun 80s/90s kid movie vibe to it.

You might think it would be fun to have to spend over $5 million in one month. That's what Benji and Felix think at first too. The rules make it harder -- no investments, no gifts, no charities, and no telling anyone what they are doing. If they can do it, they'll each earn $10 million to keep. If they fail, they lose everything. This is a great look at what money can and can't buy. Recommended for grades 4 & up.

I think this is my favorite of all Stacy McAnulty’s books so far. I read it while I was in the canyons with family. I didn’t want to stop. I ended up sharing the story with everyone there. Such a great story with so many lessons. So many great natural math topics and discussion questions too. Definitely hoping to get this one on the shelf at my school library.

This is an exageratted form of realistic fiction, but nonetheless, so fun to imagine. think back to when you were 11 years old. How would you have spent 5 million dollars in one month. Especially when you can't tell anyone, you can't buy cars or houses. you can't invest it, you can't buy gifts, and a slew of other rules. This story is so fun I cannot imagine a single child who won't race their way to see how it all ends.

The characters in this book are relatable and I appreciate the representation of dyslexia, ADHD, anxiety (and possibly ASD), as well as LBGTQIA+ representation within the characters. There is of course relatable moments to each of the characters, especially as an adult who can relate to the parents and teachers in this novel.

Overall, you need this book for you, for your kids, for your library, for your classroom. This is NOT TO MISS book.

A bizarre challenge offered by a millionaire to two middle school boys. Will they win? Could they even attempt this great feat of spending 5 million in 30 days? Readers will find themselves on a very calculated journey to discover what happens at the finish line. Won’t you join them?

I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Children's Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Millionaires for the Month has topped my list of favorite 2020 titles. I hope it will be considered for Newbery even though it is not a typical story type to win this award. McAnulty creates unique story lines for children that really grab their interests. She does this by offering creative original conflicts and complex yet relatable protagonists. Students are able to infer about these characters. I love how she lets her dynamic characters unfold. You are never told the story, she gives us glimpses into all her characters and let's the reader think. I loved that there were no dead parents or really heavy social issues in this book while at the same time really drove home some important themes for students: finding your identity/ what is really important in life/ meaningful friendships/ taking care of the most important parts of life/ money does not buy happiness and provide fulfillment. I think that students will be drawn into this story- two boys finding a billionaire's wallet- spending her 20 dollars and then taking her challenge to spend 5. 3+ million dollars in one month's time. Sounds easy? Not with all her rules- especially not being able to tell anyone that if they spend all this money in a month- they each get 10 million dollars to keep!! If not, they have to return everything they buy. The rules make this very difficult- no cars/houses/investments/jewelry/gifts to others/have to use everything they buy/no donations. So image what their parents think seeing them burn through millions of dollars!! I would refute the claim that this book is not responsible by having the boys buy all these frivolous items. If you read carefully and read to the end of the book, it is clear this does not make them happy and they wish the rules were different. The struggles they face, the transformations they go through, and values they learn (along with the minor characters) are very worthy of many ethical discussions. The Odd Couple relationship between the two protagonists provides many humorous and poignant moments. Students that are voracious readers, struggling readers, reluctant readers, and readers of various ages will enjoy this book. It is also a book that will help encourage math skills! That makes this title a goldmine for teachers of wide levels of reading students. I look forward to incorporating this title as a read aloud this coming school year. I found it quite distinguished.

Felix and Benji couldn't be more different: Felix is a rule follower whereas Benji makes stuff up as he goes along. The two classmates find a billionaire's wallet on a field trip and once it is returned, they are tasked with the challenge of spending 5 million dollars in one month in order to receive a reward of 10 million each should they succeed. However, it turns out spending 5 million dollars isn't as easy as they thought. This was a fast-paced, fun book that will be easy to convince kids to read. McAnulty did a wonderful job of portraying realistic reactions from her characters as well as depicting the character growth of Felix and Benji. I can easily see this being used in a book club.

A fun and fast-paced stories that will have students’ imaginations running wild as they wonder what they would do if they were in the same situation as the main characters. A great story to serve as a conversation starter with kids about finances and responsibility. McAnulty is always reliable for stories that both entertain and speak to kids.

Felix and Benji become unlikely friends when they are paired up on a field trip and discover the wallet of a billionaire tech giant. She offers them a reward upfront or the opportunity to make $10 million dollars if they can spend $5 in one month. There are several rules in place, including that they cannot tell anyone about the challenge. A fun story about responsibility and friendship with a few math lessons along the way.

What's the value of a penny? "A penny isn't nothing, it can be the start of something big." Which would you choose; a twenty thousand dollar college scholarship or a penny doubled each day for a month? Rule follower Felix and rule breaker Benji must make that decision when they return a lost wallet to a millionaire, but not before using the $20 bill that was inside to buy hot dogs. Millionaire Laura Friendly sets out to teach the boys a valuable lesson about theft and repayment. The boys choose her challenge over the college scholarship money. They must work together to spend $5,368,709.12 by the end of the month in order to win ten million dollars each. But there are rules to follow and it turns out it is not so easy to spend that kind of money. The unlikely friendship develops in alternating chapters as we experience each boy's backstory. Popularity comes with a price and when the money runs out and the friendship and family relations are in jeopardy, Laura Friendly offers advice, but no solutions to the "problem" they created by taking her $20.
Author McAnulty keeps us turning the pages and laughing at the outrageous items the boys purchase just to use up the money. Her creation of two characters with such different home lives gives the story an emotional backbone. She creates millionaire Laura Friendly as a rather unsympathetic character at first, but we come to learn about her background too and why she treats the boys the way she does. She is not there to smooth away troubles in their lives, but to teach them about hard work and the value of the lowly penny. Kids who have ever dreamed of being a millionaire will stand in line for this one!

Very fun! If you saw the old Brewster's Millions movie, here's a fun update (which, yes, is the update of an older film) just for kids. Fun, suspenseful, plus a dog! The gay wedding is matter-of-fact. Can't wait to order it for my library!

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of MIllionaires for the Month by Stacy McAnulty. It was a great story about two boys (Felix and Benji) who start the book not really friends. They find a wallet that belongs to a billionaire and hoping to get a reward, they return it, but not before "borrowing" $20, which Benji feesl is similar to losing a penny to a billionaire. Felix is certain it is stealing, but goes along with it reluctantly. The billionaire, talking with the boys about the returned wallet, challenges the boys to spend over $5 million dollars in 30 days because that is the amount you get if you took a penny and doubled it every day in a month. But there are rules, such as no real estate, they can't tell anyone, they can't buy gifts for people, etc. Benji feels this will be easy, but Felix isn't so sure. If they can do it, the billionaire will give them $10 million each! Can they do it? I loved watching the two boys' characters grow!

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus



Benji and Felix are classmates, but very different people. Felix is all about following the rules, and Benji just wants to have fun. When they are on a field trip to New York City, the boys find a wallet in Central Park. When it turns out it belongs to millionaire Laura Friendly, Benji is okay with "borrowing" $20 so the boys can eat lunch. They do turn the wallet in, and Ms. Friendly is glad they did. She's also a bit put off by the fact that Benji doesn't feel too bad about borrowing the money, and she issues the boys a challenge: the boys need to spend over $5 million in a month. If they do, she will give them each ten million dollars that they can keep. Of course, there are lots of rules about what they can and can't buy, but the biggest rule is that they are not allowed to tell their parents! Mr. Trulz is in charge of their debit cards, and has to approve purchases. It's a lot of money to spend, especially since they can't give any to charity of buy gifts. Some purchases are easy enough to get away with, like delivering doughnuts to school, but many, like taking a hotel room, renting cars, and employing a driver, prove to be more difficult. The boys find a dog, whom they name Freebie, and have their driver, a college student named Reggie, help to take care of him. Their school work suffers as they try to find ways to spend the money that won't get them in trouble with their parents. This is hard, especially when Felix wants to do things like help his sister Georgie pay for her wedding to Michelle. Felix's single mother, as well as his sister, are struggling with day-to-day expenses, so they don't approve of all of the expensive meals and tennis shoes that the boys are buying. While Benji's family is a little better off, they also feel there are more intelligent ways to spend the money, and eventually go to court to get the boys to stop spending money! This puts a crimp in their plan, and they try to find a way around it. When a tragedy occurs that necessitates spending money, the boys skirt the rules a little. Will Ms. Friendly let them get away with it? Or is she determined to teach them a lesson?
Strengths: This is pure tween wish fulfillment! Spend $5 million dollars in a month! Buy doughnuts for everyone, live it up with meals out, fund princess parades for teachers' kids! Great stuff. There is also a subplot involving the boys trying out for the school basketball team that is well done, and is a great selling point for a lot of readers. The boys are different enough that it is fun to watch them work together; they hadn't been friends, but don't mind each other, and work well together in their enviable predicament. The family angst is realistic; I really enjoyed the wedding scheme, and Felix's stress when his mother quits her job brings an air of seriousness to this. There are pictures of the banking app and the amount of purchases made that keeps the story moving along. This is a great doughnut of fun with an icing of more serious issues and a few sprinkles of moral lessons for good measure. Tasty!
Weaknesses: While I really like McAnulty's fresh plots and generally upbeat tone, I wish her books were just a tiny bit shorter. 200 pages remains the Gold Standard for middle grade literature, and it's sometimes hard to convince my students to check out longer tomes.
What I really think: It was a little hard for me to believe that Ms. Friendly would want to keep parents in the dark, and that the boys were able to do this, but that's just my adult perspective talking. Ms. Friendly eventually doubts her methods, and what tween hasn't tried to hide things from a parent? Definitely purchasing, and the cover and title will make this a popular pick.

Millionaires for the Month! What a fun and thoughtful story! Felix and Benji are faced with the a challenge of spending over $5,000,000 in one month. Easy, right? Not with all of the rules that their challenger, Laura Friendly, has put into place. The boys' experience teaches them some important life lessons along the way, like what it means to be a true friend. Freebie the dog also adds joy to the story because that's what dogs do in great books do. Readers will definitely be thinking about how they might approach this challenge.

I read it in about 2 hours. A great mixture of pure spending joy along with lessons and reminders of what’s truly important. #MillionairesfortheMonth #NetGalley

Stacy McNulty’s new book Millionaires for the Month asks the question “Could you spend $5 million in a single month?” as middle-schoolers Felix and Benji try their best to answer it. The book is a fun ride through the advantages that money provides but with serious reminders that money can’t provide those things that are most important to us all: family, friendship, kindness, and generosity. It’s a warning against greed and selfishness and peer pressure and dishonesty all wrapped up in a fun kids’ story.

I see being able to do a lot of fun and educational activities with this book. There are potential lessons about legal contracts, budgets and finances, event planning, social media use, and much more here. It would make a great book club book or a whole class/family read-aloud! The icing on the cake is that the McNulty includes some bonus pages in the back with information about the penny challenge and a tipping schedule from the beginning of the story. I like that these are provided and they could definitely be a springboard for more learning.

I enjoyed the boys’ inherent differences, too. Felix and Benji come from very different families and social classes, too, with seemingly different values, at least in a few places. That allows McNulty to pit them against each other in several places throughout the book, providing obstacles and conflict while they (and the reader) learn valuable lessons. Best of all are the great character lessons that are taught throughout the story, especially at the end.

Spoiler alert: this book does contain social diversity. I could have done without that, but I appreciate that McNulty does not try to justify it or push others towards this in the story.

It can be hard to find books that feature middle school-aged boys with sound character and great lessons. Even harder to find ones that are not dumbed down or full of potty humor. This is one of those rare gems. I look forward to using it with book club next year.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This book was so much fun to read. It is fast paced and told in dual perspectives. I was hooked from the start and couldn't stop reading. The premise is engaging for students and adults alike. Who wouldn't want to try and spend 5 million dollars in a month? The relationship that developed between Benji and Felix as they worked together showed how two people who seem so different can still be friends. I can't wait to share this title with my students and it definitely has made it on to my list as a possible read aloud next school year.