The Get Rich Quick Club

September 6, 2004
Gutman's (Honus & Me
; the Baseball Card Adventures) light, sprightly-paced story introduces a quintet of kids who start a club with the intention of making lots of money—fast. Eleven-year-old narrator Gina ("CEO") believes that money makes the world go around ("My goal is to make my first million by the time I'm a teenager"). She masterminds the club's plan along with Rob, who Gina explains "sees the world differently from other people" and is "probably a genius," Quincy, an Australian girl whose colloquialisms are translated (rather annoyingly) with footnotes at the bottom of the pages; and a pair of eight-year-old twins with a penchant for stretching the truth—very far. After the kids decide against several suggested money-making schemes—marketing microwavable ketchup-filled pillows; writing a rap song ("Rappers make millions of dollars," says one twin)—Rob proposes photographing a phony UFO and selling the picture to the media. The tale grows taller as the twins embellish their UFO story for TV crews and the "sighting" makes national headlines, bringing masses of "UFO nuts" to town. Readers will hardly be surprised when the hoax is revealed, yet Gutman adds an unexpected final twist to this kid-pleasingly over-the-top tale. Ages 8-12.

December 13, 2004
With an even-keeled delivery and good sense of humor, Goethals becomes 11-year-old Gina Tumolo, a girl who loves money—she dreams of it, longs for it—and is not ashamed to admit it. With the goal of becoming a millionaire by the time she's a teenager, ambitious Gina moves swiftly into action, forming the Get Rich Quick Club. The five kid members (including a perky girl from Australia armed with an arsenal of colorful idioms), each with his or her own quirky "talent," make a pact to pile up the cash by summer's end.Hatching an account of a UFO sighting, replete with photos, is the first attention-getting, and potentially lucrative, step. Goethals does a commendable job with the character voices (including Australian Quincy) and maintains the lightheartedness that suffuses the comic, outlandish plot points. Listeners will have just as much fun hearing how the scheme unravels as they did during the build-up. Ages 8-12.