Another book my son and I are reading is Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen. It seemed like a strange title, but the book is on the Bluebonnet list (Texas) for the 2008-2009 school year. By the time we finished the third chapter I was already forming ideas about how the book could be used in an economics, history, or math class. It is a perfect tie-in to discussions on small businesses, entrepreneurship, and investing. Paulsen’s story takes place in a middle-class neighborhood with a twelve year old who received an old lawn mower for his birthday. Pretty soon he is mowing lawns up and down the neighborhood and making money. Before long he meets a neighbor who doesn’t have cash, but offers to set up a small investment account in the boy’s name. As the summer progresses, the boy takes on help to get the lawns mowed, starts a business, and watches his investment account grows exponentially. The chapters have titles that reflect the economic practices being described such as “Appropriate Utilization of Resources and Assets” and math is calculated throughout the book. Talk about appropriate utilization of resources! Lawn Boy is funny, interesting, and it offers great examples of concepts taught by history, economics, and math teachers.