Shop Details

What happens when everyone is passing something around, but nobody fully understands its value?

In Homeless Carol — Book 12: Monkey in the Middle, Carol and her friends begin with a playful game.

A ball moves quickly from one side of the circle to the other while someone stands in the middle trying to catch it.

Soon, the game changes.

Buttons become money.
Paper slips become investments.
Promises begin to sound like guarantees.
Rumors move faster than facts.
And the children start making choices based on what everyone else seems to believe.

Some borrow without understanding the cost.
Some hand over their savings because they trust the wrong person.
Some follow the crowd into an opportunity they do not understand.
Some imagine enormous success without building a real plan.
Others remain outside the game because they are too afraid to make any decision at all.

Carol watches carefully as value, information, and influence move around the circle.

She begins asking important questions:

Who controls the game?
Who understands the rules?
Who benefits when everyone follows the crowd?
What happens when a message changes each time it is repeated?
And how do we protect ourselves without becoming afraid of every opportunity?

Monkey in the Middle transforms a lively playground activity into a meaningful story about financial literacy, decision-making, social influence, trust, risk, and the importance of thinking independently.

What Readers Will Learn

• Why borrowing should include a clear understanding of repayment
• How rumors can change as they move from person to person
• Why following the crowd can lead to poor decisions
• The difference between an opportunity and a promise
• How trust should be supported by information
• Why risk should be understood before money is committed
• How patience can protect long-term goals
• Why independent thinking is an important life skill

Key Themes

Financial Literacy
Understanding money, borrowing, saving, investing, and risk.

Influence
Recognizing how friends, crowds, trends, and rumors can affect decisions.

Trust
Learning that confidence in a person or idea should be supported by clarity and evidence.

Critical Thinking
Asking questions before accepting information or joining an opportunity.

Patience
Building value slowly instead of chasing quick rewards.

The Game Behind the Game

The child in the middle is not only trying to catch a ball.

The middle also represents confusion, pressure, and uncertainty.

The children must decide whether to act from knowledge or from excitement.

Carol helps them understand that a popular decision is not always a wise one—and that being left out of a trend can sometimes be safer than entering something they do not understand.

Perfect For

• Children learning basic financial concepts
• Families discussing saving, borrowing, and investing
• Teachers and homeschool programs
• Entrepreneurship and financial-literacy activities
• Social-emotional learning discussions
• Classroom conversations about peer pressure and rumors
• Readers developing independent decision-making skills

Suggested Age Range

Ages 8–12, with meaningful lessons for families, educators, mentors, and young entrepreneurs.

Closing Message

Not every opportunity should be chased.
Not every rumor should be repeated.
Not every popular choice is the right one.

Ask questions.
Understand the rules.
Know what you are risking.

Think for yourself. Protect what you value. Never let the crowd make every decision for you.