Economics
Eduard Altarriba
Button Books

With ‘the economy’ being mentioned almost every time one turns on the TV or radio, this is indeed a timely publication. Herein the author provides an easy-to-understand explanation for older KS2 children about the economy, what fundamental economic ideas and theories are, as well as how its structures and rules impact on our daily lives and shape the way societies and the wider world function. I particularly like the way he uses as a starting point, the example of a village wherein sheep are reared and cheese made from their milk to explain such terms as surplus and exchange. This is just one of the devices used to make the complex world of economics accessible to children; children who will surely encounter words such as inflation and the escalating cost of living in the news.

In his usual fashion, Altarriba’s sequencing of topics explained is carefully considered so that each new subject (there are almost forty in all) segues logically into the next.

With its wealth of infographics and illustrations children can discover such things as how money works, the things you can do in a bank, what happens in the stock exchange and much more.

Altogether an excellent and illuminating introduction to a topic that is something of a mystery to all too many of us.