Lunch Money

In Lunch Money (2005), a boy and girl join forces to sell their hand-made comic books despite opposition from their school principal. Written by American author Andrew Clements for middle-grade readers, the novel, a New York Times bestseller, traces the kids’ awkward attempts to work together as they master the arts of comic-book publishing and struggle to convince the school system to let them sell their creations on campus.

Author Clements wrote nearly 70 books, including the five-million-copy bestseller Frindle. He won dozens of awards and is revered for his stories about middle school. The work is illustrated by Brian Selznick. The ebook version of the original 2005 release forms the basis for this study guide.

Plot Summary

Greg Kenton excels at almost everything, but he is especially good at making money. As a child, he does his brothers’ chores for small change. Before long, he is raking the neighbors’ leaves, shoveling snow off their lawn, and cleaning up garages. In fifth grade, Greg sells toys to the other students, but the principal tells him to stop.

Greg loves to draw. During the summer before sixth grade, he designs, draws, and prints short comic books to sell in the fall. The minicomics tell the adventures of a caveman, Creon. At school, he quickly sells hundreds of copies.

Ever since he was a small child, Greg has had a tense competition with Maura, the girl across the street. She loves to copy what he does, to his continued annoyance. When he sells lemonade in the summer, she does, too. When he tells her she is just a copycat, she sells beautiful home-made potholders door-to-door and makes more money than Greg.

Just as his comics are getting popular, Greg discovers that Maura is selling her own minicomics. Hers are about a unicorn and a princess, but Greg is irate because she has again stolen his idea. They argue about it in math class, and Greg begins to tear up one of her comics; when she tries to get it back, she accidentally hits Greg in the nose, causing it to bleed. She must accompany him to the nurse’s office; there, Greg refuses to blame her, so she admits she read his comic and liked it. Their math teacher, Mr. Z, tries to convince them to compromise, but they argue, and Greg’s nose starts to bleed again. Mr. Z privately suggests to Greg that Maura competes with him because she likes him.

The next day, Maura shows Greg some of her new sketches, and Greg recognizes her growing talent. But two girls tease them about being friendly, and Greg angrily shoves the drawings back at Maura and stomps off. Later, they are called to the office where Principal Davenport scolds them for their fighting, forbids them to sell their comics at school, and orders them to avoid each other.

At lunch, Greg quietly tells Maura that he really does admire her drawings. He offers to sponsor her comics under his Chunky Comics label, which will search out other markets beyond school. They haggle over how much money she will earn from sales; she gets what she asks for, and somehow Greg does not mind. At Greg’s house, they work together on Maura’s unicorn story, sketching, inking, lettering, and producing the booklets. They still do not get along entirely, but they are learning to respect each other.

At school, Maura realizes that a lot of things are advertised on campus: soft drinks, candy, and even comic books sold by the book club. She and Greg convince Mr. Z to help them plan a proposal to deliver at the school district’s monthly meeting: They hope to get permission to form a comics club where they can sell their booklets.

At the meeting, Greg makes his case for the new club, and Maura proposes donating half the profits to the school library fund. Mrs. Davenport says she will tolerate non-violent comic-book stories, but she does not want her school to become a big garage sale. Mr. Z counters that schools already sell things to students, and kids need to learn how businesses work.

Greg suddenly realizes it is wrong to sell without caring about his customers. He admits it is unfair that only he and Maura can sell things. Mr. Z suggests that the kids sell their wares at the student store; Mrs. Davenport relents, as long as she and her associates can approve the items for sale. The school committee agrees to Greg and Maura’s proposal.

The new student-sales section is a big success. Nearby schools take up the idea, and Chunky Comics soon are for sale there, on the internet, and through a national book club. Greg and Maura continue to publish new stories, and they teach other kids how to create comics. At year’s end, they give to Mrs. Davenport a check for more than $1,400 as a donation to the school library. Greg is happy to know that his money-making efforts are also serving the public.