Stacy McAnulty’s middle-grade novel, Millionaires for the Month (2020), uses a high-concept premise to explore real-world social and emotional themes. When seventh graders Benji Porter and Felix Rannells “borrow” $20 from a lost wallet, they discover that the wallet belongs to tech billionaire Laura Friendly. Instead of giving them a simple reward, she presents them with a challenge: They must spend $5,368,709.12 in 30 days, according to a strict set of rules. If they succeed, they will each win $10 million. The novel chronicles their chaotic month of lavish spending, exploring themes such as The Negative Impact of Sudden Wealth, The Moral Implications of Dodging Responsibility, and The Unpredictable Consequences of a Single Choice.

A former mechanical engineer, McAnulty is an award-winning author known for integrating concepts from science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) into her fiction for young readers. Millionaires for the Month is built around the mathematical riddle of a penny that doubles every day, and this framework is also seen in her acclaimed novel, The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl, which won the Mathical Book Prize. McAnulty uses fantastical scenarios to examine complex issues like financial literacy and socioeconomic disparity, and her narratives illustrate how the wealth gap shapes children’s values and understanding of money. Millionaires for the Month was named a Junior Library Guild Selection.

This guide refers to the 2022 Yearling paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source text and guide feature depictions of bullying.

Plot Summary

On a seventh-grade field trip to New York City, Felix Rannells, a consummate rule-follower, is unhappy to be partnered with Benji Porter, the class clown. Felix, who lives with his single mother in a small apartment, has packed a meager lunch, while the affluent Benji has forgotten his lunch entirely. In Central Park, Felix finds a red wallet belonging to tech billionaire Laura Friendly. Benji immediately opens it, finds a bill worth $20, and convinces a reluctant Felix to “borrow” it so that they can both buy an extravagant lunch from a food cart. Overcome with guilt, Felix insists that they return the wallet. After slipping in a note with their names and school information, their teacher, Ms. Chenoweth, helps them to pass the wallet along to a police officer. In the following days, Felix is consumed by guilt, while Benji dreams of a large reward and struggles to cope with the pressure of his athletic parents’ high expectations.

Days later, Benji gets $20 from his mother to give to Felix, who intends to mail it to Laura Friendly. Before he can, Laura visits their school. In the principal’s office, her assistant, Tracey, offers each boy a scholarship worth $20,000. Laura then asks to speak to them alone and confronts them about the stolen money. After Felix confesses, Laura decides to teach them a lesson and tells a story about stealing a candy bar as a child. She then offers them a choice: take the scholarships or accept a challenge. The boys must spend $5,368,709.12 in 30 days; the amount is equivalent to that of a penny doubled every day for 30 days. If they succeed, they will each receive $10 million, with no strings attached. Benji eagerly accepts, and a hesitant Felix also agrees. Laura then publicly announces the $5,368,709.12 as a “gift” at a school assembly.

At a bank meeting with Laura’s lawyer, Roger McDowell, and an accountant named Leonard Trulz, the rules for the 30-day challenge are laid out. The money is in a special account that only the boys can access, and only via debit cards; Trulz will monitor every transaction for compliance. The rules state that they cannot give money away, buy physical gifts for others, or purchase assets like real estate or investments. They must use everything they buy, and tell no one about the challenge; they are also told that all purchased items will be repossessed at the end of the contest. 

The boys begin spending money immediately. Felix buys an iPhone, while Benji hires their Uber driver, a 22-year-old philosophy student named Reggie Fazil, as their personal chauffeur for the month. On the way to school, Felix adopts a stray dog that he names Freebie. Benji begins buying daily pizza lunches for the entire school, and Felix arranges for daily doughnut deliveries, a practice that the principal eventually halts. A classmate named Alma Miranda consistently refuses the free food but gets Benji to promise to provide food for the drama club fundraiser on December 1. To facilitate their spending, Benji rents luxurious suites at the Grand Regency hotel, a decision that upsets both of their families.

To accelerate their spending, the boys take their families and Reggie on a lavish weekend trip to Disney World via private jet. They also engage in online shopping sprees, buying expensive movie memorabilia, rare fossils like a $250,000-Tyrannosaurus rex skull, and vintage sneakers. As a prank against a country singer who publicly insulted Laura, they fly to Chicago and buy over $160,000 worth of tickets to his concert, forcing him to perform for a partially empty theater. 

Laura later arranges a surprise for them: a basketball game with NBA All-Stars, which costs them $500,000. Felix offers to pay for his sister Georgie’s wedding, but his insistence that it happen before December 1 raises his mother’s suspicions. Using a loophole, the boys buy wedding dresses for themselves so that Felix can “lend” Georgie her dream dress, an act that deeply hurts his mother, who wanted to be the one to buy the gown for her daughter. They travel to Boston to ask Laura to change the secrecy rule, but she refuses. When basketball tryouts begin, Felix distances himself from the inept Benji in order to improve his own chances. Benji performs poorly, and in a desperate attempt to impress the coach, he uses their money to throw a unicorn-themed party for the coach’s young daughters.

Benji receives detention for the attempted bribe, and the incident strains his friendship with Felix, who makes the team. Meanwhile, Benji and Alma grow closer during an ice cream outing. At Georgie’s wedding, the boys’ surprise gift, a private concert by the band Apex-7, costs $1.1 million and leads to a public, humiliating argument that goes viral online. Facing public backlash, Apex-7 refunds most of the money, putting over $1 million back into the account. The situation escalates when Benji’s father hires lawyers who successfully freeze the account with only three days left in the challenge. During a heated argument between the boys over the frozen account, Freebie’s leash snaps, and he is hit by a truck.

Freebie is rushed to an emergency vet with life-threatening injuries. The vet bills are substantial, and with the account frozen, Reggie pays the initial deposit. Motivated by the need to pay for Freebie’s care, Benji records a confession about the challenge in his journal, knowing that his parents will listen to it. When they understand the truth, his parents drop the lawsuit and unfreeze the money. 

On December 1, the final day of the contest, the boys attend the drama club fundraiser. In a last-ditch effort to spend the remaining $1,641,512.58, they bid against each other for the prize of having the principal as a personal assistant for a day. However, Laura Friendly makes a surprise appearance and outbids them with a $2 million offer. Because the boys had already broken the secrecy rule to save Freebie, the challenge was voided. Laura’s bid prevents their final attempt to spend the money. Benji publicly confesses the entire story and apologizes to Laura.

Laura admits that setting this challenge for the boys was a mistake. As a consolation prize, she allows each boy to keep one item that they purchased. Felix keeps his iPhone. Benji chooses Felix’s lucky Nike Air Flights and gives them to Felix. All other items are repossessed. 

Months later, life has returned to a new normal. Freebie has fully recovered, and Laura has established a permanent account managed by Mr. Trulz to cover all of the future expenses of caring for the dog. Felix is the star of the basketball team, and Benji is his biggest supporter. The boys have pitched an idea to Laura for a mobile game based on their experience, for which they will receive a small royalty. Their friendship, forged through the month-long challenge, is now solid.