Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire

by Sundee T. Frazier

Overview

Budding entrepreneurs will love the unforgettable Cleopatra Edison Oliver in this multiracial, capitalist tale that's equal parts The Lemonade War and Encyclopedia Brown.

Cleopatra Edison Oliver has always been an entrepreneur, just like her inspiration, successful businesswoman Fortune A. Davies. So when Cleo's fifth-grade teacher assigns her class a "Passion Project," Cleo comes up with her best business idea yet: the finest "tooth-pulling" company in town. With the help of her best friend Caylee, a Nerf gun, her dad's tablet, and her patented Persuasion Power, Cleo's Quick and Painless Tooth Removal Service starts to take off.But even the best made plans, by the best CEOs, go awry sometimes. A minor barfing incident during a tooth-pulling operation causes Cleo to lose customers. Caylee, initially enthusiastic about the business, grows distant as Cleo neglects their friendship in lieu of getting more customers. And when a mean classmate makes fun of Cleo for being adopted, everything comes crashing down. Will she be able to rescue her business, salvage her friendship with Caylee, and discover that her true home has been here all along?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545822367
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	01/26/2016
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	590L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Sundee Frazier is the author of Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire, which received a starred review from Booklist. She won the 2008 ALA Coretta Scott King / John Steptoe New Talent Award for her first novel, Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It. Frazier graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in broadcast journalism in 1991 and earned her MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College in 2004. She currently lives near Seattle with her husband and two daughters. Find her online at sundeefrazier.com.

Read an Excerpt

Dear Ms. Fortune A. Davies:My name is Cleopatra Edison Oliver, I am in the 5th grade, and I am most likely your biggest fan in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!! I have been watching Fortune with my mom since I was three years old. Seeing you on TV is actually my VERY FIRST memory! Can any other fan say that?!Ms. Davies, you talk about purpose a lot. You say yours is "Delivering Destinies and Financing Futures." I have a future in business. I know I do. First of all, there is my name, which I got from my birth mom. (Is it true that you find the pharaohs of Egypt fascinating?) Personally, I LOVE my name because Cleopatra was a very powerful woman (just like you!). Not only am I named after a queen and ruler, but my initials are CEO, and I'm a Capricorn (just like you!), the zodiac's top business achievers. So, Ms. Davies, as you can clearly see, ruling companies is my destiny!I have tons of ideas for what I will do with the money I make, starting with a special theme park for adopted kids and their families. If I had a dollar for every time my parents said I'd rule the house if they let me, I'd be rich already! But clearly, I am not in charge yet. Today I got in trouble for something, and my mom took away my business for a whole day. Did you ever feel like your parents didn't understand you? What did you do? I am currently the president and CEO of my very own company, Cleopatra Enterprises, Inc. (I hope you don't mind that it sounds sort of like Fortune Enterprises, Inc.) I have had many product lines over the years, but right now I am focused on avocados. I always give away ten percent of what I make, just like you say in Fortune Principle Number Ten.This past spring I learned all about what it means to be a CEO when I did a report on "the most influential person in your life." I chose YOU, of course! I am a member of your Fortune's Kids Club and have written to you many times through your website. Your replies have told me to keep watching because you might read my message on your show, and I have—every day at 4 o'clock! You haven't read any of mine on TV yet, but that's okay. I am confident you will very soon!I know you are SUPER busy running all your businesses, starting schools in other countries, and being on TV, but if you could write me back with the answer to just one very important question, it would make me so excited and happy. I would take your letter to school and show it to EVERYONE. I would frame your letter and hang it on my wall FOREVER. :) :) :) And this is my question: What is the most important thing to do when you're my age if you want to be a huge success like Fortune A. Davies??? Ms. Davies, if you are ever in Los Angeles, I hope you will stop by CLEOPATRA'S AWESOME AVOCADO STAND ("The best avocados in all of Altadena Heights!"). You will get a bag of my best avocados—on the house, of course!Your biggest fan—if I had a million dollars (and one day I will) I'd bet on it,Cleopatra Edison OliverCleopatra Edison Oliver, CEO (the next Fortune A. Davies!!!)P.S. I have memorized all ten Fortune Principles for How to Build Your Business and Live the Life You Want. Thanks for all the great advice!P.P.S. PLEASE, PLEASE write back!!!

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Other Half of My Heart*"Funny and deeply affecting... the richest portrait of multiracial identity and family since Virginia Hamilton's 1976 novel Arilla Sun Down. An outstanding achievement." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review*"[Frazier's] ability to round out each character, looking past easy explanations for attitude, is impressive... A novel with a great deal of heart indeed..." — Booklist, starred reviewPraise for Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It"Frazier delivers her messages without using an overly heavy hand. Brendan is a real kid with a passion for science and also a willingness to push his parents' rules; he's not just a placard for the author's central message." — Booklist"Brendan is an appealing character with a sense of honor... curiosity and intelligence. A good, accessible selection to inspire discussion of racism and prejudice." — Kirkus Reviews"This is an absorbing look at a 10-year-old boy who has never had to deal with race and prejudice, who collides into years of anger and hurt in his family and must create a new identity for himself... Frazier writes affectingly about what being biracial means in 21st-century America." — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

01/01/2016
Gr 3–5—Cleo Edison Oliver has a lot of fantastic ideas, and, thanks to the inspiration of business woman Fortune A. Davies, she is inspired to start her own businesses. From selling items from catalogs to setting up an avocado stand in her own front yard, Cleo has a lot of experience. So, for a class project, she offers up her wildest business yet: Cleo's Quick and Painless Tooth Removal Service! For a cut of the Tooth Fairy money, Cleo has her classmates covered, until an unfortunate barfing incident causes things to go haywire and Cleo learns that running a business isn't as easy as she thought. Cleo is a spunky, energetic, and highly ambitious girl. Always planning a new way to earn money and make her role model proud, Cleo manages to be an inspiration to young entrepreneurs. She and her brothers are adopted and African American, and the supporting cast is diverse as well. The plot is entertaining and relatable, with a happy ending that reminds readers that there are things more important than money. VERDICT A good purchase for libraries serving elementary-aged readers.—Paige Garrison, Augusta Richmond County Library System, GA

School Library Journal

10/26/2015
Frazier (Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It) opens a series by introducing African-American fifth-grader Cleopatra Oliver, who is so determined to be successful that she changes her middle name so her initials are C.E.O. Inspired by her idol, a TV celebrity tycoon, Cleo (who, like her two younger brothers, was adopted by a white mother and a black father) dabbles in some ill-fated moneymaking ventures, including selling avocados from the family trees, and breaks several household rules in the process. When Cleo’s teacher assigns a project highlighting students’ passions, Cleo eagerly launches a tooth-extracting business, with the aid of her brother’s Nerf gun. Not surprisingly, that enterprise backfires, and Cleo is punished for removing her nemesis’s tooth—with a punch to the face—after the girl taunts her for being adopted. Underlying Cleo’s questionable financial schemes are poignant plot lines dealing with the toll that her entrepreneurial obsession takes on her relationship with her best friend, the emotional repercussions of being adopted, and the rewards and potential pitfalls of following one’s dreams. Ages 8–12. Agent: Regina Brooks, Serendipity Literary Agency. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

2015-10-19
Future entrepreneur Cleo, unlike most fifth-graders, has her career path laid out; a new school assignment gives her the opportunity to jump-start her plans. Cleo's effervescent and upbeat, full of creative business ideas she tends to execute before securing the proper approvals from her loving adoptive parents. She counts on her best friend, Caylee Ortega, a born organizer, to make her ideas workable. Cleo's not all about the money. Her role model is an inspirational entrepreneur/celebrity with heart who advocates giving back to the community. Cleo secretly fantasizes she is her real birth mother, not the African-American-Filipino birth mother who gave Cleo her name, baby clothes, and stuffed toy, Beary, but has avoided contact. It's different for Cleo's little brothers. Their birth mother visits regularly and brings presents—even for Cleo. Canceling the dreaded fifth-grade family-tree project (creating and displaying their family trees is tough for kids with complex or difficult histories), her teacher assigns passion projects, encouraging students to explore their interests in depth. Cleo's passion is business; her project, removing her classmates' loose baby teeth with a Nerf gun. (Adults and even some kids will wonder how her otherwise responsible parents and teacher give even limited permission for this.) Frazier offers a rare, cleareyed view of adoption, understanding that even the best are founded on loss as well as love and that assimilating this bittersweet, difficult truth is a lifelong journey. A funny, compassionate tale. (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews