The Short Seller

April 8, 2013
Weissman (Nerd Camp) chooses an unusual subject for middle-grade fiction—playing the stock market—as the focus for this lively and engaging novel, and it pays dividends. Sick at home, 12-year-old Lindy Sachs agrees to make a simple stock trade for her father while he’s at work. Excited by the transaction and intrigued by the concept of making money by investing in stocks, Lindy receives $100 from her parents to try her hand at it as she recovers from mononucleosis. Careful research—reading trading charts, following day-trading blogs, and paying attention to current events—pays off; playing the market gives Lindy a new appreciation for math and the realization that she is good at using it to make money. But once Lindy succumbs to the temptation to play with her parents’ money, market dramas hit much too close to home. Weissman builds layers of suspense as Lindy fixes one disastrous situation only to be hit with an even worse blow; the author also smoothly weaves information about the stock market and finance into the story’s family dynamics and middle-grade friendship problems. A smart pick. Ages 8–12.

July 1, 2013

Gr 5-7-When seventh-grader Lindy Sachs comes down with mononucleosis, she feels as if she has contracted The Plague. She is trapped in her house for two weeks: no school, no friends, no fun. This all changes when her father gives her the password to his online trading account and $100 to invest at her own discretion. Lindy starts out investing five or ten dollars in her favorite companies, but after a few small successes and some research into online trading, she realizes the potential that investing can hold, especially when you have unfettered access to your parents' life savings. When a bad investment results in a $25,000 loss, Lindy has to scramble to make back the money, and navigate the resulting consequences of lawyers, the SEC, and possible jail time for her father. Weissman is successful in crafting a story that includes a young person's view of the crackdown on insider trading. The premise is a bit far-fetched, but the realistic friend and family interactions make up for this overreach in the plot.-Colleen S. Banick, Westport Public Schools, CT

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