Pass Go and Collect $200: The Real Story of How Monopoly Was Invented

by Tanya Lee Stone, Steven Salerno (Illustrator)

Overview

Boldness, imagination, and ruthless competition combine in Tanya Lee Stone and Steven Salerno's Pass Go and Collect $200, a riveting picture book history of Monopoly, one of the world's most famous games.

In the late 1800s lived Lizzie Magie, a clever and charismatic woman with a strong sense of justice. Waves of urban migration drew Lizzie’s attention to rising financial inequality. One day she had an idea: create a game that shows the unfairness of the landlord-tenant relationship. But game players seemed to have the most fun pretending to be wealthy landowners. Enter Charles Darrow, a marketer and salesman with a vision for transforming Lizzie’s game into an exciting staple of American family entertainment. Features back matter that includes "Monopoly Math" word problems and equations. Excellent STEM connections and resources.

This title has Common Core connections.

Christy Ottaviano Books

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250213921
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	07/17/2018
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	59 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Tanya Lee Stone has written several books for young readers, including the young adult novel A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl. She lives with her family in Vermont.
Steven Salerno has illustrated more than twenty picture books, including Brothers At Bat, which made the New York Times Book Review's list of notable picture books for 2012, BOOM!, and Coco the Carrot. A graduate of Parsons School of Design, he lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

05/14/2018
Stone (Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream) summarizes the sometimes contentious history of the ever-popular board game Monopoly. Lizzie Magie Phillips developed and patented its precursor, the Landlord’s Game, in 1903 to focus attention on rising urban rents charged by monopolistic landlords. A brisk narrative pace propels the story through fact-filled and sometimes lengthy passages, explaining how players modified rules and created homemade versions of the freely shared game. When out-of-work salesman Charles Darrow marketed and sold his version, controversy ensued. Salerno’s (Wild Child) lively, mixed-media illustrations carry the action forward. Large Monopoly tokens leap from colorful spreads as turn-of-the-century period dress, close-ups, and caricatures bring the story playfully to life (Darrow, oft-credited as the game’s inventor, is shown speeding off in the roadster game token, Monopoly money flying from the car). Backmatter includes a list of trivia (for example: online voting in 2017 retired some tokens and added others, such as a T. rex token), a Monopoly math section, and an author note and source list. Monopoly aficionados should most appreciate this account that gives credit where credit is due and asks readers to ultimately weigh in: “So who wins in this story?” Ages 5–9. (July)

Publishers Weekly

A Kirkus Best Book of the Year
An ALSC Notable Book
An NCTE Orbus Pictus Honor Book
An NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
A Texas Bluebonnet List Selection
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
An Amazon Best Book of the Month
A CCBC Choice Title
An ALSC Notable Title
A Pennsylvania Young Readers Award Nominee

"A real winner."—The Horn Book

"Salerno's soft, dynamic full-bleed illustrations reflect yet move beyond the aesthetics of the game and time period, making every page compelling and fresh . . . Stone delivers a winner."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Readers are treated to a colorful historical account of a well-known board game, and the socioeconomic factors that affected its development. Salerno’s vivid illustrations are kinetic and play upon the most exciting elements of the story. Highly recommended for nonfiction collections ."—School Library Journal, starred review

"A brisk narrative pace propels the story . . . Salerno’s lively, mixed-media illustrations carry the action forward."—Publishers Weekly

"Stone personalizes this story by asking readers to consider instances when they’ve made changes to a game’s original rules. . . Salerno’s bold illustrations heighten the drama surrounding Monopoly’s development and include glimpses of early versions of the game."—Booklist

"Stone is a deft hand at balancing historical absurdities with important social themes, and here her picture book format invites middle-grade readers to benefit from a lesson in entrepreneurship, even as they enjoy amassing trivia surrounding a familiar game. Salerno’s retro illustrations recreate the milieu."—The Bulletin

From the Publisher

★ 06/01/2018
Gr 1–4—Readers are treated to a colorful historical account of a well-known board game, and the socioeconomic factors that affected its development. In the late 1800s dynamo Elizabeth "Lizzie" Magie decided to create a game based on what she viewed as an unfair relationship between heavy-handed landlords and vulnerable renters. Magie patented the Landlord's Game in 1903, but was unable to secure the interest of large-scale producers. The history of how Magie's creation became Monopoly is as complex as its rules and variables, but here a potentially complicated narrative is told with great skill and clarity by Stone. Young readers are presented with a coherent and lucid account; any detail not relevant to the furthering of the story is omitted, including complex terminology and the personal details of Magie's life. Parker Brothers would ultimately pay Magie only $500 for the patent and would not credit her as the inventor as promised, a deal she was vocally unhappy about. Bonus material includes trivia and a math set. Salerno's vivid illustrations are kinetic and play upon the most exciting elements of the story. Characters move with fluidity, and occasional close-ups at sharp angles add interest to spreads with Charles Darrow and Mr. Monopoly. VERDICT Highly recommended for nonfiction collections.—Lauren Younger, formerly at New York Public Library

School Library Journal

★ 2018-05-14
The surprisingly complex history of one of America's favorite board games. In the early 1900s, Lizzie Magie created and patented the Landlord's Game in order to demonstrate the frequent injustices of the landlord-tenant relationship—it even had socialist alternative rules. As people began to play the game, it was adapted by players, including a business professor who called the game Monopoly. During the Great Depression, a down-on-his-luck businessman named Charles Darrow decided to handcraft and sell Monopoly boards, adding many of the design features we know today. As the success of Darrow's version of Monopoly grew, Parker Brothers took interest—only to discover that they couldn't patent it, as Lizzie Magie already had! When Parker Brothers finally gained rights to the game in 1935, Magie received relatively little compensation while Darrow made a small fortune. Stone presents the board game's messy history with ease, providing a clear, linear path to today's Monopoly without ever compromising the nuances of its invention. Direct-address narration engages children, leaving room for them to draw their own conclusions: "So who wins in this story? What do you think?" Salerno's soft, dynamic full-bleed illustrations reflect yet move beyond the aesthetics of the game and time period, making every page compelling and fresh. All illustrated people, including named figures and background characters, appear white. Backmatter includes trivia, Monopoly-related math problems, an author's note, and a bibliography.Stone delivers a winner. (Informational picture book. 5-10)

Kirkus Reviews