Lawn Boy and Lawn Boy 2 by Gary Paulsen

Summary of Lawn Boy: So in the first book, we see a seemingly bored kid, who only wants one thing- an inner tube for his bike. His grandma suggests one thing: mow lawns. She brings up his grandpa's riding mower, and in just a couple hours he has his first business. Now, in the neighborhood he lives in, the lawns are huge. 35 dollars a lawn huge. It's tough work, between mowing lawns, refilling it, eating lunch, and trying to survive the summer sun, he can only mow about three lawns a day. But that's over a hundred dollars. Work orders are getting backed up, until he meets a man named Arnold. He's a hippie who needs his lawn mowed but is about 35 dollars short. So they work up a deal. Arnold is actually a stock broker and he's willing to put 35 dollars into a special account and buy some penny stocks. This lawn boy seems to shrug it off as a weird agreement. Until of course the penny stock spikes in value. His 35 dollar investment? It's now eight-thousand dollars. His life has changed. Lawn Boy is now more than a one-man-band. It's a corporation.

Summary of Lawn Boy 2: In the sequel, Lawn Boy seems to make no mistakes. First off, he re invests his eight thousand dollars into a computer stock, which obviously happens to find this new technology which earns him over fifty thousand dollars. Then of course, he invests in this seemingly random penny stock, which finds oil in Minnesota and now his earnings are sky-high. Arnold calls up some of his buddies, and pretty soon, Lawn Boy has a workforce of over 20 workers. As if things couldn't get weirder, Arnold wants to hire a prizefighter as an investment. And through all this, there is a man named Rock, who will do whatever it takes to get the money Lawn Boy has earned.

What I Liked: Overall, this was just a really fun story to read. I mean, each book is only 80 pages, so combined I finished them in about 30 minutes. But it was just hilarious to me to see all these fortunes. I mean the chances of hitting three different penny stocks that rise that much in value is harder than trying to win the power ball. This book brought me back to when I was really young; it was a simple yet enjoyable and unintentionally (unless it was intentionally) comical book which I honestly enjoyed.

What I Didn't Like: What I will say is that there is basically no plot at all. There's really not a climax or a conclusion. It's just rising action all the way through both books, until an epilogue at the end of the second book which kind of counts as a conclusion. But you really shouldn't pick up this book if you're in need of an epic thriller. It's not that type of book.

Rating on 'the scale': 7.9 out of ten.

Why? These books were really fun to read, but it's not going to be something your average 14 year old will go to. If you want a quick but fun read about some crazy economics, or you have a little sibling (or maybe you're a parent), these books are not only really fun, but actually explain some fundamental economical skills (that came off serious, but trust me, these books are anything but)