Millionaires for the Month by Stacy McAnulty

Millionaires for the Month by Stacy McAnulty is a beautiful novel about two boys, Benji Porter and Felix Rannells. The two would never have met if they hadn’t been stuck together on the field trip, they probably wouldn’t even have been friends if they hadn’t found the wallet of billionaire Laura Friendly lying on the ground and stolen twenty dollars to buy hot dogs because twenty dollars is like a penny to a billionaire, and then returned it. Yet somehow, Laura Friendly had found out that her twenty dollars had been stolen and Benji and Felix had been called to the school’s office to meet up with her. She offered them a challenge, a challenge to spend a penny doubled for a month, $5,368,709.12, in a month. If they succeeded they would each be awarded ten million dollars. Benji hurriedly agreed while Felix reluctantly nodded a yes, little did they know, this month would be one of the most complicated of their lives.

However, there were some rules to the challenge, such as no real estate, or not being able to buy art or jewelry. At first, the rules didn’t seem to make much of a difference, but a couple days into the challenge they realized that it would be harder than they thought. Benji’s parents thought he was being wasteful, buying a chauffeur and renting a Ferrari, but the kids couldn’t tell their parents about the challenge. They also weren’t spending enough money per day to use it all by December first. Benji convinced his parents that he wasn’t spending too much, but they wouldn’t listen after Felix and Benji hired a famous band for Felix’s sister’s wedding, they froze the account just a week before the end and they still had over a million dollars left to spend. Would they be able to complete the challenge and win the twenty million dollars?

I loved this novel because of its unique plot and its hidden lessons about friendship and even a little bit of psychology. McAnulty is a gloriously creative author creating the most unique books ever. The best I ever accomplished was two chapters of a book with a plot a lot like Scat by Carl Hiassen. I wrote it right after I read the book so it isn’t so surprising, but all of McAnulty’s books plots aren’t a bit alike any other.