How Deflation Works How Stimulus Plans Work Why Banks Fail How the Stock Market Works How Taxation Works

Gr 7 Up—These books explore financial topics not usually addressed for students. Deflation discusses the possible correlations between a recession and deflation, expanding at length about why deflation is ultimately unhealthy for the economy. Stimulus Plans gives a simple yet comprehensive summary of a complex and expansive topic. It makes the point that all economies are cyclical and that recessions may be caused by different events. It covers deficits and Roosevelt's New Deal and Obama's stimulus plan at length, as well as the Marshall Plan and Japan's response to its recession of the 1990s. Stock Market includes a history of Wall Street and discusses the ups and downs of the stock market and its impact on people's everyday lives in a general and accessible manner for students. There is about a third of content overlap among these three books. Why Banks Fail is fascinating, well written, and accessible. The primary focus is our recent sub-prime mortgage debacle and how these mortgages alone caused the massive bank failures around the world of the last decade. This text is lucid and keeps such concepts as "contagious" bank runs and "cascading" bank failures easy for students to understand. How Taxation Works is straightforward and perfunctory. The further reading recommendations are focused for teens.—Meredith Toumayan, The Governor's Academy, Byfield, MA