Book Descriptions
for Once Upon a Company by Wendy Anderson Halperin
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Wendy Anderson Halperin's three children, Joel, Kale and Lane, were stuck inside the house on a cold November day when she first suggested they make Christmas wreaths and sell them to earn money for college. Joel was seven at the time, and Halperin writes in his first-person voice to describe how that suggestion blossomed into a thriving company. In the second year, the company expanded to include a summer food stand that serves cold lemonade and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at local events ("Now we were chefs!") and, when wreath season came around, rented an empty store for four weeks, becoming part of their downtown business community ("Now we were merchants!"). By the sixth year, they had established a system for hiring employees, including college students, and earned over $16,000 for their own college funds. College is repeatedly emphasized as a place of wonderful discovery in this energetic, can-do narrative. The charmingly designed volume is illustrated with the author/artist's warm, folksy artwork detailing the large cast of characters and the many aspects of operating the business in their community, which appears in the illustrations to be predominantly white and middle class. The emphasis here is on fun and initiative as much as money, and the money, when mentioned, is always tied into college as the ultimate goal. (Age 8-11)
CCBC Choices 1998. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 1998. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
At first, the business is small and so is the cast of characters. Seven-year-old Joel and his two sisters, Kale and Lane, make Christmas wreaths and sell them to a few neighbors. "You could start a college fund with the money you earn", suggests Boppy, their grandfather. And that's how they got their name: The College Fund Wreath Company. In summer, they expand into lemonade and peanut butter sandwiches. Over six years, the business grows, bringing new customers, new partnerships, new workers -- and more money into their college fund. Featuring richly detailed artwork and concluding with an invaluable glossary of business terms, this step-by-step account of one family's adventure in retailing is a wholesale delight.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.