Mr. Jimmy from around the Way

Written by: Jeffrey Blount

First line: She and her quiet sorrow were the beginning of his giving, nudging him quietly yet powerfully from his youthful preoccupations and awakening a long-forgotten oath.

Why you should read this book: James Ferguson, the wealthiest Black man in America, is a deeply ethical and honorable man, who keenly feels the disgrace of having the single (understandable) indiscretion he's committed in his entire life broadcast across social media. Fleeing to the poorest corner of Mississippi with his tail between his legs, he seeks to do penance for his sins by living in isolation like a hermit monk, until he happens to notice that the occupants of the other twenty-two houses on his street are afflicted with the most abject poverty imaginable in America. Then he uses his stellar work ethic and massive fortune to help his new neighbors while battling racists, classists, and his own demons. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's kind of hard to suspend disbelief; Mr. Jimmy is preternaturally saintly, his enemies are comically evil, and his solutions are all kind of magical. 

Those Shoes

Written by: Maribeth Boelts and Noah Z. Jones

First line: I have dreams about those shoes. 

Why you should read this book: This is a story about economic necessity, fads, desire, and kindness. A little boy longs for a pair of stylish sneakers, but his family's situation is such that he ends up with a pair of charity shoes from the guidance counselor's stash. Eventually he acquires an affordable, secondhand, too-small pair of the coveted kicks, and while he can't really wear them, he can make a choice that demonstrates his understanding of the true value of material things. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You don't have any shoes.

A Spoon for Every Bite

Written by: Joe Hayes and Rebecca Leer

First line: A long time ago there was a poor copule who lived in a small, tumbledown house.

Why you should read this book: This is a retelling of an old folktale—the author's notes claim it combines elements from two old Hispanic stories (although I have also read some of the elements of this tale in an old Yiddish folktale)—that highlights the divide between the grateful poor and the oblivious rich. An economically disadvantaged couple names their wealthy neighbor as godfather of their child in the hopes that they will become better friends, and scrimp and save to purchase a third spoon for their household, that they may entertain their new friend. When the rich man laughs at the poverty of the poor couple, they take their simple, glorious revenge with poetic irony. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: The idea that anyone lives more lavishly than you puts you off your food.

Death of a Salesman

Written by: Arthur Miller

First line: A melody is heard, played upon a flute.

Why you should read this book: Like most people, I read this classic play in high school, and I think maybe once or twice more as a very young adult, but this is definitely one of those stories that hits harder the older you get. Willy Loman is a salesman whose blustery confidence has always masked his failings as a father, as a husband, and as a salesman. In the twilight of his life, as the wages of lies, hypocrisy, and regrets are paid and his mind becomes unloosed in time, he begins to suspect that he is worth more dead than alive.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You have to move a hundred twenty thousand units this month.

 

Ramona and Her Father

Written by: Beverly Cleary

First line: "Ye-e-ep!" sang Ramona one warm September afternoon, as she knelt on a chair at the kitchen table to make out her Christmas list.

Why you should read this book: A little older and little more amenable to accepting her big sister's wisdom, Ramona finds her world rearranged when her father loses his job and the family's financial situation depends on her mother working full-time. Initially excited to have her father around more, Ramona's optimism is crushed by her father's despair and the daily drudgery of giving up little luxuries that the family can no longer afford. Through the book, Ramona learns how to be a better friend to her sister and how to forge a stronger and more mature bond with her father, and how to be happy with what she has.

Why you shouldn't read this book: The scene where Ramona gets a million burrs stuck in her hair is pretty traumatic for people who like their hair.

The Westing Game: A Puzzle Mystery

Written by: Ellen Raskin

First line: The sun sets in the west (just about everyone knows that), but Sunset Towers faced east.

Why you should read this book: This is the kind of story that's best enjoyed if you don't really have any idea what's going on and only figure out the details as the characters reveal them: a murder mystery with more twists than a pretzel factory. A reportedly unpleasant industrialist, Sam Westing, dies under unusual circumstances, having previously gathered sixteen potential heirs of all ages and from all walks of life, who are then pitted against each other to find his killer and inherit his two hundred million dollar fortune. Nothing is as it seems, and, according to Westing's will, the information they don't have is more important than the information they do have.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're easily confused and don't enjoy it.

Shibumi and the Kitemaker

Written by: Mercer Mayer

First line: Many years ago, a baby girl was born to the emperor and empress of a far-away kingdom.

Why you should read this book: Shibumi, as a royal daughter, is protected from the ills of her city and exposed only to beauty. On the day that she first recognizes economic inequality, she begins to conceive of a plan to use her privilege to convince her father to address the social issues in their world. Her plan involves a kitemaker, the largest kite the world has ever seen, and a staunch sense of determination.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You have no problem walling out the ugliness in the world.

The Million-Dollar Bear

Written by: William Kotzwinkle and David Catrow

First line: Argyle Oldhouse was a grouchy old millionaire.

Why you should read this book: There is something hilarious and sweet about this story of two millionaires who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. The Million-Dollar bear lives unhappily in a dark and lonely vault, because he is the world's first teddy and extremely valuable. As a result of a robbery and an incompetent cleaner, the Million-Dollar Bear finally gets out of the vault and finds the true place of a teddy bear in this world.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You still have mint in box Star Wars action figures from the seventies, and no one can ever play with them because they're worth so much money.

The Bad Beginning

Written by: Lemony Snicket

First line: If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.

Why you should read this book: In book one of A Series of Unfortunate Events, the Baudelaire children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, lose their parents, home, and possessions in a terribly fire, and become wards of the bank that houses their late parents' fortune. Placed in the custody of an evil and terrible actor called Count Olaf, they suffer through various physical and emotional punishments. With their intelligence, determination, and quick-thinking, they escape a very terrible fate, but their story is just beginning. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. 

Tight Times

Written by: Barbara Shook Hazen and Trina Schart Hyman

First line: This morning I asked Mom, "Why can't I have a dog?"

Why you should read this book: With a child's perspective on economic troubles, this book shows a protagonist who doesn't understand his parents' financial worries, except as it pertains to what he can and can't have. He can't have a dog. Then he finds a kitten who's in even worse condition than his family....

Why you shouldn't read this book: You hate cats.

Tía Isa Wants a Car

Written by: Meg Medina and Claudio Muñoz

First line: Tía Isa wants a car.

Why you should read this book: Here's a great story teaching agency to children. The young narrator, living among a large, but divided extended family, knows that most of her aunt's money must be sent back home to the part of the family still living on the island and waiting to come to America. Caught up in her aunt's beautiful dream of owning a car that will carry them to beach whenever she wants, the little girl learns that she, too, can work and make money, so that dreams become reality.

Why you shouldn't read this book: The idea of immigrants working hard to create a better life for their families is somehow offensive to you.

My Rows and Piles and Coins

Written by: Tololwa M. Mollel and E. B. Lewis

First line: After a good day at the market, my mother, Yeyo, gave me five who ten-cent coins.

Why you should read this book: In my experience, there are two kinds of kids: the kind who run out to buy candy, gum, collectible trading card, and plastic figurines whenever they get any money; and the kid who save every penny until they can afford video game consoles, electric guitars, or gifts for their loved ones. This book is about the latter, a little boy who meticulously saves his coins in pursuit of a brand new blue and red bicycle, which will enable him to help his mother bring their crops to market. Although Saruni saves a lot of coins, his purchase does not go according to plan, but somehow works out even better than he could have expected.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You want gum, candy, collectible trading cards, and plastic figurines, and you want them now.

How the Second Grade Got $8,205.50 to Visit the Statue of Liberty

Written by: Nathan Zimelman

First line: The second grade collected two tons of all kind of paper for which we were paid thirty dollars by Mr. Abner Carmody, recycler of everything.

Why you should read this book: With a quiet hilarity, it recounts the increasingly unsuccessful efforts of a bunch of seven-year-olds to raise enough money for a social studies class trip, detailing the money they make, the expenses required to earn that money, and the trail of destruction they leave in their wake. Cats will be doused in lemonade, diets will be ruined, and even the principal's car will not remain safe from the well-intentioned antics of these young entrepreneurs. In the end, of course they'll get to go see the Statue of Liberty, and while there are surprises along the way, adult readers will most likely not be shocked to learn where the class trip money ultimately comes from.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're too busy buying overpriced wrapping paper/cookie dough/candy bars to finance your local PTA.

The Contract with God Trilogy

Written by: Will Eisner

First line: All day the rain poured down on the Bronx without mercy.

Why you should read this book: Among the most prolific of the old school cartoonists, Eisner wrote this massive, three-volume work, one of the first-ever graphic novels, in his retirement, as a way to cope with the grief he suffered when his teenage daughter passed away. There are many stories here, all tied together by place: the ever-transitional immigrant neighborhood of Dropsie Avenue, peopled with a constantly changing cast of tenement dwellers, all looking for a way up. This is a genius work, filled with heartbreak and triumph, confusion and certainty, and all the stories of a hundred years, written with an expert ear for dialog and illustrated by a delightful pen.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You detest the cultural other, which is definitely defiling your way of life.

Then Again, Maybe I Won't

Written by: Judy Blume

First line: Who says March is supposed to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb?

Why you should read this book: When his sister-in-law gets unexpectedly pregnant and his father takes a leap of faith to earn more money for the family, Tony finds his entire life uprooted. He's no longer the son of a blue collar electrician but of a fabulously wealthy inventor, and he has to leave behind the life he loves in Jersey City and move to the alien upper class world of Rosemont. Money changes everyone, he feels, and like a less rebellious Holden Caulfield, he's now surrounded by phonies, constantly questioning his own, and his family's actions.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Shoplifting, voyeurism, class issues.

Adopted Jane

Written by: Helen Fern Daringer

First line: Matron Jones pushed open the door of the nursery where Miss Fink was getting the babies ready for bed.

Why you should read this book: Poor Jane Douglas has led an unfortunate life: orphaned as an infant, frequently sick during her baby years when she would have been most adoptable, and now overlooked due to her unfortunately straight hair and unlovely face, she has never, as the other children do, been sent on a summer visit, until now. As the last big kid left in the orphanage over the summer, Jane is the recipient of two invitations, one to visit an old lady who, the matron hopes, will donate enough money to build an infirmary for the sick babies; and another to be a girl’s companion on a farm. Jane is determined to make a good showing of herself, to be helpful and well-behaved, and if she can, be seen as such a delightful visitor that she might be asked back again next year.

Why you shouldn’t read this book: You will never, ever guess how Adopted Jane, the story of an orphan girl, ends.

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture

Written by: Peggy Orenstein

First line: Here is my dirty little secret: as a journalist I have spent nearly two decades writing about girls, thinking about girls, talking about how girls should be raised.

Why you should read this book: Like many modern mamas, Orenstein thought she could shield her daughter from the pernicious effects of gender-based body and education issues, only to find that there is no escaping the culture at large and that her daughter would admire the Disney princesses without ever having watched a Disney film. She embarks on an in-depth examination of the commercialization of childhood, particularly as it pertains to girls' concepts of agency, self-image, achievement, and sexuality. From the Disney marketing machine and the American Girl flagship to toddler beauty pageants and social networking, Orenstein observes the way little girls are marketed to and (if the parents don't express their own values) molded by a materialist culture that seeks to commodify their innocence and profit from their insecurities.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Your job involves figuring out how to make money from the natural proclivities of children.

Cryptonomicon

Written by: Neal Stephenson

First line: Two tires fly.

Why you should read this book: An epic roller coaster ride, which bounces the reader back and forth between World War II and the early days of the Internet, North America and Asia, commerce and morality, it's a modern classic skirting the edges of speculative fiction: war story, jungle adventure, geek lore, and thriller, sewn together with the threads of cryptography and passion. With a vast cast of characters including geniuses, madmen, soldiers, and the strong, beautiful, intelligent women who draw them onward into achievement, this is the story of bricks of gold that have been hidden for decades, codes that have been encrypted and decrypted by experts, and the desires of humans for wealth, power, love, knowledge, and, sometimes, even higher callings. The writing is sharp and witty, humorous and esoteric, punctuated by language sophisticated to stimulate the mind of the most dedicated sesquipedalian while simultaneously being blue enough to shock your grandmother, a veritable treat for readers who love reading.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Incapable of comprehending complexity.

Estrella's Quinceañera

Written by: Malin Alegria

First line: According to my mom, a girl's fifteenth birthday is supposed to be the biggest day of her life.

Why you should read this book: Estrella really loves her family and her culture, but ever since she started attending a fancy private school on scholarship, she finds them both a little embarrassing, compared to those of her rich white friends. The more her mother's plans spiral out of control, the more Estrella pulls away from the people who love her, until she realizes that she's alienated everyone who cares. It takes all her social know-how to appease her parents, make amends with her friends, and host a quinceañera that's traditional enough to make everyone happy.

Why you shouldn't read this book: This story has been done in different cultures or different age groups, to much better effect.

The Magic Pillow

Written by: Demi

First line: Once upon a time in China there was a boy named Ping.

Why you should read this book: Power, fame, and wealth are passing illusions, Ping learns in this kind hearted parable for young people based on an ancient Chinese story, and illustrated with gorgeous gold and textured accents. When Ping starts to yearn for more than he has, a magician's magic pillow shows him what life would be like were his dreams to come true. Ping is granted a vision of success that proves to him the impermanence of material success and teaches him to be content with what he has.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're already content.