The Financial Literacy book review series #FinLit recommends thought-provoking books about money, investing, and personal finance. This post is about Jackpot by Nic Stone.
Rico Danger (pronounced DON-gur) knows what she would do with a winning lottery ticket:
"Buy a nice house
GOOD health insurance
Probably buy a second, smaller house just for me
Decent car for me
Volvo XC90 for Mama
Buy Jaxy [little brother] every Lego set there is
Give a crap-ton to charities that help poor kids, especially around Christmas
Jaxy college fund"
For now, she only sells lottery tickets as part of her job at a gas station. She helps her single mom pay the bills, which includes grocery shopping on a budget. Buying something nice, like a Christmas gift for her little brother, means either giving up something else or taking on more work hours. She wears second-hand clothes and uses public transportation to get around.
Until one day, she learns about a customer who bought a winning lottery ticket during her shift worth $106 million but has not redeemed the ticket yet. If she can use what little she knows about the customer to find her and help redeem the ticket, who knows if maybe she could get a piece of the prize? She asks Zan, a rich and popular classmate with connections, for help. Together they track down the ticket's owner while learning how each other lives.
Jackpot has something for everyone, including humor, suspense, sympathy, drama, and romance. Rico has a justified chip on her shoulder due to her family's struggle to live on the poverty line, while Zan's privileged life has its own downfalls. Some of their assumptions about each other based on money and social status are proven wrong. They are still affected by their upbringing, though. Early experiences with bullies and disappointment have made Rico quiet and guarded, while Zan's wealthy and controlling family leads him to act playful and risky.
Readers will learn a lot about how people choose to (or have to) handle their money while following a whirlwind mystery with two magnetic leads.