Elizabeth Young (Children's Literature)
Summer vacation was never as productive as the summer he turned twelve. That summer, he (who is never mentioned by name) receives his grandfather’s old riding lawn mower for his birthday, yet does not have a lawn much larger than a postage stamp. When the neighbors noticed and started asking for their lawns to be mowed, the trouble began. We should all have this kind of trouble! One lawn led to another, $20.00 leads to another $20.00, and soon he find himself with a small business, complete with employees and more money than his parents. Our ‘hero’ learns through another neighbor about investing, capitalism, and offering employee benefits--all at the tender age of 12. While this is an easily read book, the story is a bit overwhelming at times. Paulsen creates realistic characters, yet presents them with far-fetched, if not illegal opportunities. The inclusion of owning a prize fighter really places this out of most reader’s league, yet makes for an interesting book discussion for pre-adolescents or even potential business students. 2007, Wendy Lamb Books, $12.99. Ages 9 to 12.

Gillian Streeter (Childrens Book and Play Review, March/April 2008 (Vol. 28, No. 4))
The twelve-year-old protagonist of Paulsen's Lawn Boy doesn't want much in the beginning--just a new inner tube for his old ten speed bicycle. But when his slightly batty grandmother gives him his grandfather's old riding mower, he keeps getting more and more lawns to mow. When he meets Arnold, a stockbroker who exchanges stock for mowing, he suddenly is running his own business, employing adults, and sponsoring a prizefighter. All of this comes in handy when someone tries to extort money from him by kidnapping Arnold. Paulsen's usual straightforward style becomes slightly muddy but holds up in his latest book. Lawn Boy is clearly written in the same vein as The Toothpaste Millionaire, with a child using industriousness and outright luck to become financially successful. The lawn boy has mostly luck instead of Millionaire's Rufus's math skills and pragmatism, but the results were still positive and well-earned. Teachers and librarians can find accompanying teaching information by going to a website listed on the publication page at the front of the book. A great book for inspiring children to be industrious, and a good starting point to explain how the market economy works. Rating: Dependable. Reading Level: Intermediate. Category: Contemporary realistic fiction. 2007, Random House, 96 p., $12.99. © 2002, Brigham Young University.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2007 (Vol. 75, No. 10))
After his grandmother gives him an old riding lawnmower for his summer birthday, this comedy's 12-year-old narrator putt-putts into a series of increasingly complex and economically advantageous adventures. As each lawn job begets another, one client—persuasive day-trader Arnold Howell—barters market investing and dubious local business connections. Our naïve entrepreneur thus unwittingly acquires stock in an Internet start-up and a coffin company; a capable landscaping staff of 15 and the sponsorship of a hulking boxer named Joseph Powdermilk. There's a semi-climactic scuffle with some bad guys bent on appropriating the lawn business, but Joey Pow easily dispatches them. If there's tension here, it derives from the unremitting good news: While the reader may worry that Arnold's a rip-off artist, Joey Pow will blow his fight, or (at the very least) the parents will go ballistic once clued in—all ends refreshingly well. The most complicated parts of this breezy affair are the chapter titles, which seem lifted from an officious, tenure-track academician's economics text. Capital! 2007, Wendy Lamb/Random, 96p, $12.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 9 to 12. © 2007 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Rita Fontinha (Library Media Connection, October 2007)
A 12-year-old boy receives an old riding lawn mower that belonged to his late grandfather from his grandmother for his birthday. The boy needs a tire for his bike, so he begins mowing lawns, having no idea where this will lead. His business mushrooms, one of his customers invests his money, he adds crews, and even sponsors a fighter. Capitalism at its best! This is a fantastical tale that is slapstick, improbable, and funny. We never learn the boy's identity-so he is an every man, or every boy in this case. Readers will learn to dream big when they read this story! This is another winner from Gary Paulsen, a perennial favorite. Recommended. 2007, Wendy Lamb Books (Random House), 96pp., $12.99 hc. Ages 11 to 14.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2007)
When the twelve-year-old narrator's grandmother gives him a lawnmower, the youngster decides he might as well earn a few bucks. He meets Arnold, an investor with a cash-flow problem, who promises to buy stocks for him as payment for a freshly trimmed yard. With all the energy of a bull market, this brief farce has summer escapism written all over it. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2007, Random/Lamb, 88pp, 12.99, 15.99. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

Monica Irwin (The Lorgnette - Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 20, No. 4))
The twelve-year-old narrator learns all about economics in this short novel by Gary Paulsen. The summer starts out just like any other. In order to buy a bike, the narrator must find a way to make money. He starts out by getting his grandmother’s old lawn mower. He plans to just mow his own lawn for allowance money, but then his neighbor asks him to mow his lawn. Instead of paying him, the neighbor pays him in stock options. The “business” expands beyond what one boy can do, and so the neighbor hires some employees for the young man. Now there is money flowing, and no one knows when it will stop. The business grows to include partial ownership of a boxer--the athlete, not the dog! This novel is clever and humorous. With chapter titles like, “The Law of Increasing Product Demand Versus Flat Production Capacity” and “Labor Acquisition and Its Effect on Capital Growth,” readers will be somewhat prepared for what is to come. But they will not only have a clue as to what is going to happen, they will also learn some economic and business vocabulary! Because this book is so short, it will appeal to many reluctant readers, but it should not be ignored by others. It is truly an amusing as well as an “educational” read. Fiction. Grades 6-9. 2007, Wendy Lamb Books, 88p., $12.99. Ages 11 to 15.

Matthew Weaver (VOYA, February 2008 (Vol. 30, No. 6))
Tucked deep within a lesson in economics is an actual young adult story, or so Paulsen would have readers believe in this story of a young boy who receives a riding lawn mower from his grandmother for his twelfth birthday. Before long, the nameless narrator is befriended by a neighborly stocks expert, who invests his money in coffins. From there, it is all good as the narrator's money doubles, triples, quadruples to the point where he owns his own fighter, named Joey Pow. There is not very much to the story beyond that. As the money accumulates, so do the problems, such as dealing with an extortionist named Rock, but at under one hundred pages, this book is a trifling at best. It would have been more interesting and realistic to read about a kid struggling to keep his lawn business afloat all summer, with hilarious results, but that is not the story Paulsen is telling. Nor does he make much effort to go anywhere most readers are anxious to follow. A typical chapter heading is "Economic Expansion Combined with Portfolio Diversification." A fun mental image is to picture this book as a how-to bible in the hands of some diehard young entrepreneur, but in reality the only ones who are going to be eager for the book are economics teachers salivating over the chance to meet their students halfway. VOYA CODES: 3Q 2P M J (Readable without serious defects; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2007, Random House, 96p., $12.99 and PLB $15.99. Ages 11 to 15.