Wendy Anderson Halperin's three children, Joel, Kale and Lane, were stuck inside the house on a cold November day when she first suggested they make Christmas wreaths and sell them to earn money for college. Joel was seven at the time, and Halperin writes in his first-person voice to describe how that suggestion blossomed into a thriving company. In the second year, the company expanded to include a summer food stand that serves cold lemonade and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at local events ("Now we were chefs!") and, when wreath season came around, rented an empty store for four weeks, becoming part of their downtown business community ("Now we were merchants!"). By the sixth year, they had established a system for hiring employees, including college students, and earned over $16,000 for their own college funds. College is repeatedly emphasized as a place of wonderful discovery in this energetic, can-do narrative. The charmingly designed volume is illustrated with the author/artist's warm, folksy artwork detailing the large cast of characters and the many aspects of operating the business in their community, which appears in the illustrations to be predominantly white and middle class. The emphasis here is on fun and initiative as much as money, and the money, when mentioned, is always tied into college as the ultimate goal. (Age 8-11)

From selling Christmas wreathes in the neighborhood to a full-fledged business, one family sees its business, whose profits go straight to its college fund, bloom, in a richly illustrated book that includes a glossary of business terms.