By: Owen D
Andrew Clements, author of the million copy best-seller, Frindle, has done it again and came out with another realistic fiction book that is just as entertaining as it is interesting. The book, Lunch Money, focuses on eleven year old Greg Kenton, a child with a true understanding and obsession of money. Greg sees money wherever he goes, which is a talent that has led him to open his first savings account with over three thousand two hundred dollars, which is not including the couple hundred dollars of spending money he left at home.
Greg is living the dream until two things harshly wake him up from his perfect reality, the first being a couple trips to the principal's office. Naturally, any fifth grader as smart as Greg seeks to find loopholes in the principal's sentences, but gets into some trouble on the way. And just when Greg thought things couldn't get any worse, enter Maura Shaw, the girl across the street. Maura and Greg are so strikingly similar in the personalities and obsessions, that their newfound rivalry leads them into an even bigger mess than before.
Like many other of Clement's works, Lunch Money is a fun realistic fiction read that is not too hard on the brain. He uses contrasting characters and situations to create irony and hilarious situations. His character development is spectacular, but if there were one thing to change about Clement's writing, it would be to have more risks. Most of the characters in the book take the easy way out, and there are no real lasting consequences. Clement also uses some chichés in the book that are easily predicted and no real surprising situations. This makes Lunch Money slightly stale during some parts, but most scenes are bright and interesting.
Overall, all of Clement's works are wonderful novels, but Lunch Money is by far my favorite based on how well the characters are developed, the innocent and childlike plot is always a good read that is not too difficult to understand to any reader.
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