The Short Seller

by Elissa Brent Weissman

Genre: Realistic fiction
Age group: 10+

It all started when Lindy Sachs got sick with mononucleosis and had to stay in bed for weeks. She couldn't ice skate, couldn't go to school, couldn't hang out with friends... so her dad introduced her to the stock market. Soon Lindy was hooked. School math made no sense to her, but this actually did. She understood how stocks rose and fell, and how you could sell them to make more money. To keep her busy, her dad gave her $100 to spend on whatever stocks she'd like, and soon Lindy's money is growing and growing. She's actually doing pretty well, and getting into the swing of things, when she clicks back to her parents' account page on the stocks website and sees how much capital (money in the account but not currently being invested) they have. And then Lindy starts to get greedy. Surely it will be okay if she borrows just a little of that money... after all, her parents have so much of it. But then the stocks began to fall drastically. In just one day, Lindy has lost a ton of money, and she needs to find a way to pay it back. Fast.

This book made me really, really interested in the stock market, because it brought all of that big information down to a simpler level and made it easy for younger people to understand it. It showed how stocks and bonds are not necessarily only for adults or economists. In addition to the main storyline of Lindy getting in financial trouble, there's also a smaller subplot about her relationship with her friends Steph, Howe, and a girl who isn't exactly a friend, Cassie. These parts of the story make it more relatable, and make it more appealing overall. It would be much less believable if the friendship subplot were taken out. The writing is also very good at adding suspense as the problems pile up and up and up. I think The Short Seller is really well-crafted, and is not only a good introduction to economics, it is an engaging and interesting novel about a new topic.