From School Library Journal
Grade 8-10-- Maybury has used a series of letters as a clever technique to present some basic economics lessons. In brief chapters, the breezy text explains terms such as recession, inflation, money, the wage/price spiral, and Gresham's Law. But the book lacks thoughtful analysis. Reminiscent of many letters to the editor, Maybury's style of economic reasoning is simplistic and biased against government. The reason big corporations can't buy better tools, he asserts, is that they must "pay so many taxes that they don't have enough money left over." In another passage, government is blamed for "taking money from others." (Civic responsibility and government services are not a part of the author's vocabulary.) He does nothing to promote global understanding by his references to the reliability of money in Chile, Mexico, and Argentina: "I would not like to live there." A caution against blaming others for inflation and recession is followed by an explanation of the role of Jews in Europe before World War I: "Compared to everyone else they were wealthy." A section of the book is devoted to disconnected miscellanea, out-of-context quotations, and a rather subjective list of resources. There are also advertisements for the author's writings, including a financial newsletter for $149. For economic principles, one should look instead to materials published by the Joint Council on Economic Education or Lerner's "Economics for Today" series. --Miriam Hansen, Indianhead Federated Lib . System, Eau Claire, WI
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Maybury's forte is explaining economics in an interesting, logical, and easy-to-understand manner no small achievement in economics pedagogy. Equally important, the economics in 'Whatever Happened to Penny Candy' makes such good sense. When government's economic policies make us say 'uncle,' let's hope it's 'Uncle Eric,' Maybury's letterwriter and alter ego." --John G. Murphy, Ph.D., President, National Schools Committee for Economic Education (commenting about the previous edition)
"This book is must reading for children of all ages. Its presentation of some of the fundamentals of economics is lucid, accurate, and above all highly readable." --Michael A. Walker, Executive Director, The Fraser Institute, British Columbia, Canada (commenting about the previous edition)
"This one slim volume can and should replace at least one full shelf of weighty tomes. There's really no excuse for being baffled by economic theory and economic theoreticians when you can spend an evening with this grand book and learn the ABC's of a subject about which the politicians, in particular, wish you'd stay illiterate." --Karl Hess, Author, "Capitalism for Kids" (commenting about the previous edition
"This book is must reading for children of all ages. Its presentation of some of the fundamentals of economics is lucid, accurate, and above all highly readable." --Michael A. Walker, Executive Director, The Fraser Institute, British Columbia, Canada (commenting about the previous edition)
"This one slim volume can and should replace at least one full shelf of weighty tomes. There's really no excuse for being baffled by economic theory and economic theoreticians when you can spend an evening with this grand book and learn the ABC's of a subject about which the politicians, in particular, wish you'd stay illiterate." --Karl Hess, Author, "Capitalism for Kids" (commenting about the previous edition
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
