The following review was contibuted by: CAROLYN HOWARD-JOHNSON

I have a theory about children and money that is not rooted in science. I believe that babies pop out with ingrained personality traits that translate into the way they handle money from the time they are little to adulthood. This may not sound like the beginning of a promising recommendation for a book like Lori Mackey’s Money Mama and The Three Little Pigs which gives children a sound philosophy for how to handle money. But bear with me.

Though raised in the same home, my brother and I don’t even see money as the same color. When we were little he snarfed down the jelly beans in his Easter basket and gave away the pennies given to him by aunts and uncles and then came to me for the ones I had carefully hidden under the bed. I, of course, needed to practice selflessness and promptly share them without crying out “This is not fair!” I determined to raise my own two differently—to train them up with practical guidelines for both consumption and sharing.

My well-laid plans of balancing the philosophy of giving and money management skills with them was to no avail. Once my daughter stood before a salesperson at Spencer’s gift with a quarter in her hand. “What can I buy with this,” she asked, not really caring what he suggested. Whatever it was, the quarter must be spent and she must walk away with some—any—material good. My son, on the other hand, tells me that he was born with genes that make him feel guilty if he spends any money let alone spends it injudiciously.

So, when I was at the LA Times/UCLA Book Fair last week, Mackey’s book grabbed my attention. Its color and whimsy will appeal to children and it won an award from iParenting Media. Though my desk is piled high with books I must review, I offered to read Money Mama.

I wasn’t disappointed. Here’s the thing: I still believe that each child has inborn traits that will make it easier or harder to teach her money management but it also occurred to me that if this well-designed and smart little book had been part of my children’s library (or mine and my brother’s!) we could have all benefited. Children may well absorb such wisdom better when it is presented pictorially; they may accept it better if it comes from someone other than a parent. Besides, books can be read and reread—and repetition, as we all know, is an important tool for retention. Reading a book like this will be fun for a child, rather than another nag.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s first novel, This is the Place, has won eight awards.

Her newly released Harkening, a collection of stories, has won three.

Her practical and detailed how-to book on promotion,

THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOU’RE PUBLISHER WON’T, will be released in August of 2004 by www.StarPublish.com.

Learn more at: http://carolynhowardjohnson.com.)