Billy the Borrowing Blue-Footed Booby by Shelia Bair - 🟌🟌🟌🟌🟌

Billy is a blue-footed booby who lives on the Galapagos Islands. He loves to have a nap after lunch, but it’s always raining that time of the day. So, Billy wants to buy an umbrella so he can nap without distraction. The Selling Seal will sell an umbrella to Billy for 10 sardines, but Billy doesn’t have this amount. The Seal and Billy come to an agreement that Billy can have the umbrella for 20 sardines, and he doesn’t have to pay him until the end of the month. Now Billy finds all kinds of other things he wants, and the Seal is willing to sell for more and more sardines to be paid in the future each time another item is purchased. By the end of the book Billy owes 320 sardines to Seal and has no way to pay him. Just like in real life, when you don’t pay your debts, items are repossessed.

Some would say the Selling Seal should be called a Loan Shark and not a Seal. Either way the message is clear, buy what you need not what you want. This is a hard concept for a child to grasp but the book does an excellent job of delivering it. The second lesson is to be careful about promising sardines or payment in the future as the amount can easily get out of hand. The book is a great introduction to financial responsibility. Shelia Blair has written 5 other books in the Money Tales series that addresses money and I look forward to sharing them with my grandkids.

Fun Activity: Pull out some money from your pocket or purse and practice making change. Go to your local bank and set up a saving account for your child.

Published In: 2021
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Series: Money Tales
Age Level: 4-8 years
AR Level: N/A
Pages: 32
Stars: 5