Greg earns spending money as a young child by cleaning his brothers' rooms in exchange for a small weekly fee.

Greg's dad discovers a hidden cash stash and takes Greg to deposit over three thousand dollars in a bank account.

After forgetting his lunch, Greg borrows quarters from classmates and realizes that schoolchildren carry enough spare change to build a fortune.

Principal Davenport calls Greg to her office and forbids him from selling toys at school.

During the summer before sixth grade, Greg designs and prints a series of minicomics featuring a caveman hero named Creon.

Greg discovers that classmate Maura Shaw has created and is selling her own minicomic, The Lost Unicorn, at school.

Greg and Maura argue in math class over her copycat comic, and she accidentally punches him in the nose.

Greg and Maura meet with math teacher Mr. Z after school to discuss their competing comic books.

Principal Davenport scolds Greg and Maura, changes their class schedules, and officially bans them from selling comics at school.

At lunch, Greg proposes that Maura publish her comics under his Chunky Comics label, and they negotiate until she wins a 75% cut.

Greg and Maura spend a weekend together sketching, inking, lettering, and printing the first finished copy of her unicorn minicomic.

Maura notices that corporate brands and products are advertised throughout the school, giving her an idea to challenge the comics ban.

Maura and Greg persuade Mr. Z to help them plan a formal proposal for the monthly School Committee meeting.

Greg and Maura present their comic-club proposal at the School Committee meeting, with Mr. Z speaking in their defense.

At the year-end school ceremony, Greg and Maura present Principal Davenport with a check for over fourteen hundred dollars for the school library.

Greg Kenton has been earning money since age four, and by sixth grade he has an ambitious plan to sell original minicomics at school. His operation quickly runs into trouble when classmate Maura Shaw launches a competing comic series, and a heated confrontation results in a bloody nose and a ban on all comic sales at school. Rather than give up, Greg proposes a partnership with Maura, and together they learn to produce better comic books than either could alone. They recruit their math teacher Mr. Z to help them build a formal case for the School Committee, arguing that students should be allowed to sell their creative work on campus. Greg's willingness to publicly admit his own faults at the meeting wins over the Committee, resulting in a student store that benefits the entire school and earns a major donation for the library.

Greg's money-making journey from childhood chores to comic-book entrepreneur.

Greg earns eight hundred and eighty dollars in a single winter shoveling snow for neighbors across the neighborhood.

Maura sets up a competing lemonade stand that undercuts Greg's price and steals his customers, matching every counter-move he makes.

Maura sells beautifully crafted homemade potholders door-to-door and earns more money than Greg ever made selling lemonade.

Greg sells gum at school before switching to troll dolls, which he buys cheaply online and resells for a profit.

Greg arrives at sixth grade with three hundred copies of his Creon comic ready to sell and two more issues prepared.

Greg pays classmate Ted Kendall a small commission to help him sell more comic books at school.

While waiting in the nurse's office, Greg reads Maura's unicorn comic and realizes it is beautifully illustrated.

Greg cruelly leans his bleeding nose toward Mr. Z during their after-school meeting, causing the teacher to nearly faint.

Mr. Z privately tells Greg that Maura's habit of competing with him is actually a sign that she likes him.

Maura slips Greg a note in social studies class with the message that she loves comics, underlined five times.

Maura corners Greg between classes to show him the book Understanding Comics and her dramatically improved new sketches.

Two girls tease Greg and Maura about being friendly, causing Greg to angrily shove the sketches back at Maura.

Maura finds a school book club flyer showing comic books are already being sold on campus, contradicting the comics ban.

Mr. Z anonymously sends Principal Davenport a box of classic comics, including Superman and Disney stories, for her to read.

The student store holds a grand reopening, and the model is adopted by nearby schools, expanding Chunky Comics sales.

Before comic books enter the picture, Greg and Maura have already spent years competing over lemonade sales and handmade crafts, with Maura repeatedly matching and outlasting Greg's best ideas. Greg tests several products at school before landing on minicomics, while Maura studies up on the art form and rapidly improves her own work. Their rivalry turns into reluctant respect after a series of tense encounters in the nurse's office and Mr. Z's classroom, where small revelations begin to soften their hostility. Once they agree to work together, Maura spots the contradiction at the heart of the comics ban: corporate products are sold all over school while her handmade booklets are forbidden. This evidence, along with Mr. Z's quiet behind-the-scenes diplomacy, helps dismantle the principal's opposition and leads to a thriving student-sales program that spreads well beyond their own school.

From lemonade rivalries to literary partners, the story behind the story.

Greg lends money to his parents interest-free but charges his older brothers a fifty-cent fee for every loan.

Greg's parents worry he is becoming obsessed with money, but his dad argues Greg still has many other healthy interests.

After the principal bans toy sales, Greg resolves to find a new product that will not cause problems at school.

Greg spends the summer mastering the folding and printing technique that produces a minicomic the size of a credit card.

At the nurse's office, Greg refuses to blame Maura for his bloody nose, and she admits she liked his comic.

Greg falls asleep in the nurse's office after reading Maura's entire unicorn comic, still clutching it in his hand.

Greg apologizes to Mr. Z for cruelly dripping blood near him, and the two share their personal fears with each other.

Greg returns home from school to find his older brothers mocking him relentlessly for being punched by a girl.

Maura calls Greg at home to give him the math homework he missed, marking their first real phone conversation.

At lunch, Greg tells Maura that her revised comic sketches are incredible, and she cannot hide her smile.

Greg watches Maura slowly read through the first finished copy of her minicomic and feels an entirely new emotion.

Maura tells Greg that making a great comic matters far more to her than money, and that money comes way second.

Maura catches Greg criticizing her for poorly trimmed pages and sloppy stapling, proving he cares about quality beyond just profit.

At the School Committee meeting, Greg realizes that he has been targeting schoolchildren for their money just like major corporations do.

A national book club agrees to distribute Chunky Comics, marking the full expansion of Greg and Maura's small publishing business.

Greg's transformation in Lunch Money happens through a series of small but decisive moments that chip away at his single-minded focus on profit. From the very beginning, hints appear that Greg's worldview is limited: he lends money to his parents for free but charges his brothers a fee, and he completely misses the generosity of classmates who offer him lunch money because all he notices is their spare change. His forced interactions with Maura slowly reveal that other people have feelings worth caring about, and working together on her minicomic produces an emotion he cannot even name. At the School Committee meeting, everything crystallizes when Greg realizes that he has been exploiting students just like the corporations he resents, and he publicly admits it. By the end of the story, his decision to share profits and contribute to the school library signals that his idea of success has fundamentally changed.