Tyler & His Solve-a-Matic Machine- Winner in the 2007 Excellent Books Category from the Prestigious iParenting Media (Future Business Leaders' Series™)

Author - Jennifer Bouani ... [Goo?] [Posters]
Guy Smalley ... [Goo?] [Posters]
Jennifer Shelley ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Bouje Publishing was reviewed on 16-Oct-2008.

Search ISBN:0977926508 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Tyler & His Solve-a-Matic Machine- Winner in the 2007 Excellent Books Category from the Prestigious iParenting Media (Future Business Leaders' Series™) Reference Book. Classifications : Action & Adventure Literature Children's Books 4-for-3 Books Store Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books General Literature Children's Books 4-for-3 Books Store Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books Sci . Click the following link to view the cover of Tyler & His Solve-a-Matic Machine- Winner in the 2007 Excellent Books Category from the Prestigious iParenting Media (Future Business Leaders' Series™).

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1) Paperback Book Tyler & His Solve-a-Matic Machine- Winner in the 2007 Excellent Books Category from the Prestigious iParenting Media (Future Business Leaders' Series™) by Bouje Publishing. This is a very inventive and brilliantly written book about a young orphaned boy who invents a machine to do his homework and embarks on an adventure in a fantasy sky-scraper where he meets all the people who he needs to start his own business. It is not only informative but encouraging for youth to know they can suceed in the world of business.

A great introduction for kids.

Seth J. Frantzman¤

2) Paperback Book Tyler & His Solve-a-Matic Machine- Winner in the 2007 Excellent Books Category from the Prestigious iParenting Media (Future Business Leaders' Series™) by Bouje Publishing. Jennifer Bouani, Tyler and His Solve-a-Matic Machine (Bouje, 2006)

The idea of kids´ books teaching libertarian values is one near and dear to my heart. Unfortunately, I´ve never actually found one that gets it entirely right; the author either softpedals the values and mixes in some of the usual left-leaning kids´-book malarkey or overstates the case and ends up writing something more polemic than kids´ book. Tyler and His Solve-a-Matic Machine, however, is as close as I´ve found to a book that manages to keep its balance.

More than anything, it put me in mind of Norton Juster´s The Phantom Tollbooth in its writing style. Bouani, like Juster before her, creates an entirely believable character and then thrusts him into an entirely unbelievable situation (and for much the same reason). Tyler, our hero, is ten years old. Like most kids, he´s not fond of homework, but unlike most kids, he´s actually got some ideas in his head about a machine that will help. There are forces who are willing to help him build his machine, but first they must teach him the basics of being an entrepreneur.

First things first: let´s get the bad stuff out of the way, and when I say "bad stuff," I mean two minor niggles. First, the font in which the book is typeset is non-standard, and can take a while to get used to, so be prepared. Second, if you´re a unionist, prepare to be absolutely outraged. Tyler and his friends´ solution to the problem of the striking union members is the kind of thing that got people killed in the seventies. (Needless to say, it´s also the correct answer.) Some of the characters are less well-developed than I´d like, but the afterword states that this is the first book in a series; I´m certainly willing to give Bouani the benefit of the doubt that the characters will become more developed as time goes on. Why? Because, despite the fact that this book could have easily gone the way of the lecturing instruction manual (viz. The Girl Who Owned a City), Bouani realizes that, yes, there is a story to be told here, and that the lessons the book wants to impart are better related through the construct of the story. That puts her ahead of 95% (if not more) of those who write books like this already.

My biggest problem with the book was that I wanted more. Yeah, I know, it´s the first in a series. This is why I don´t normally read series until they´re all out, because now I have to hunker down and start the interminable wait for the second book. However, while I´m waiting, I will recommend Tyler and His Solve-a-Matic Machine without hesitation; I´ve already given my copy to my daughter. ***¤

3) Paperback Book Tyler & His Solve-a-Matic Machine- Winner in the 2007 Excellent Books Category from the Prestigious iParenting Media (Future Business Leaders' Series™) by Bouje Publishing. It´s one thing to have a great idea, but it´s something else to take that idea and truly bring it to life - but that´s just what Jennifer Bouani has done in this first book of the Future Business Leaders´ Series. Tyler and His Solve-a-matic Machine wildly succeeds on two levels: entertaining its target audience of ages 9 to 12 with an excellent, fun fantasy adventure and offering its young readers a number of very sound lessons in the principles of entrepreneurship. If you´re a parent, your child might not remember how to spell entrepreneur after reading this book, but he will be familiar with most of the basic concepts behind the term - and could very well be excited about the prospect of becoming an entrepreneur himself.

Tyler is an orphan who dreams of sailing around the world like his late father did. One night, while slogging his way through a homework assignment, he dreams up the idea of a machine to help him do all of his homework quickly. Then a strange voice leads him downtown to a magical high-rise building, where it reveals itself to be Sote, the Great Spirit of the Entrepreneurs. After hearing about entrepreneurship and its potential rewards, Tyler accepts Sote´s challenge: get to the top of the hundred-floor building before sunrise if he really wants to realize his dream of having his very own boat.

Obviously, it´s not as simple as just taking the elevator or stairs up to the top floor. The stairways are locked, different elevators in the building take you to different levels, and Tyler must find the keys to several special elevators. Along the way, he will also meet up with certain individuals and groups determined to stop him from succeeding.

Tyler´s entrepreneurial quest basically takes him through the process of taking his idea of a Solve-a-matic Machine and turning it into an actual manufacturing business. Bouani came up with some really brilliant ways to illustrate the kinds of obstacles entrepreneurs must deal with in the real world- and that´s really the key to the book´s success and eminent readability. Even as your child is reading this entertaining fantasy adventure featuring all kinds of exotic locations and animals, he/she is actually learning how to take an idea and turn it into a marketable product by coming up with a design, assembling the necessary tools and resources for production, hiring and managing workers (including dealing with unions), setting prices and production levels, etc.

I have a degree in economics, so I know how boring this subject matter can be. Bouani deserves major kudos for taking such a potentially dry subject as entrepreneurship and communicating its basic principles in such a fun and entertaining way to younger readers. She actually gets kids excited about the prospects of becoming entrepreneurs themselves, and that´s an amazing accomplishment. Similar books involving Tyler and his friends are forthcoming in the Future Business Leaders´ Series, and I am sure they will build upon the strong foundation this first book has already established.¤

4) Paperback Book Tyler & His Solve-a-Matic Machine- Winner in the 2007 Excellent Books Category from the Prestigious iParenting Media (Future Business Leaders' Series™) by Bouje Publishing. Young Tyler Sogno has big dreams - he would like to buy a big boat, and sail all around the world. But, being an orphan, and a bit of a slacker, he knows that his dreams will never come true. However, when a disembodied voice tells him that there is a path to that brighter future, Tyler sits up and take notice. The voice tells him that to make his dreams come true, he must become an entrepreneur! What does Tyler have to do to become an entrepreneur? He (and we) are about to find out!

This book is a wonderful lesson in capitalism, presented in the form of a story. I am tempted to say an allegorical story, but in fact few things are veiled here. This book teaches the young reader all about what it takes to become an entrepreneur, everything from coming up with a product, getting the patents, developing the plant, and hiring employees.

I must admit, I wish I had had this book a couple of years ago. For a high school class, my nephew and some other students were supposed to develop the idea for a business to place on an island. They came up with exporting coconut bikinis and monkey butlers. They understood so little about what running a business meant, and this book would have told them.

Overall, I think that this is a great book, one that should be required reading in all American schools! I give this book my highest recommendation.

Oops, I almost forgot to mention...I love the characters in this book, especially the monkey J.J. Junglehammock, Attorney at Law. He cracked me up!¤

5) Paperback Book Tyler & His Solve-a-Matic Machine- Winner in the 2007 Excellent Books Category from the Prestigious iParenting Media (Future Business Leaders' Series™) by Bouje Publishing. This is a fantasy adventure story for children between, say, 9 & 12. However, it isn´t just a fantasy adventure story. It has the purpose of entertaining while it introduces children to the basic topics of becoming an entrepreurial businessperson. To an adult inured to the typical squishy values of much children´s writing, the frankness of the pro-business ideas might seem jarring. However, it is unlikely the kids will have such feelings of strangeness.

Tyler is an lives in an orphanage and all he has of his father is a picture of him. I may have missed it, but I couldn´t find any explanation of what happened to his mother. He ends up going through the floors of a very magic tall building and has to solve projects on each floor in order to get to the penthouse by the next morning to win his dream.

The projects do discuss topics that every entrepreneur will have to face, but not in a realistic way. That isn´t the purpose of the book. It is a fantasy adventure and wants to start children thinking along certain lines. No one faults the squishy literature for presenting human relations in unrealistic ways. It is just that there is so much of it we have come to accept it.

However, this book seems to cover even union busting. Is that really a topic a nine year old will understand in any way? It might be that in some states the kind of behavior the adventurers engage is illegal in some states! I don´t know.

Anyway, it is a fresh kind of story. I am not a person who reads a lot of children´s literature so I don´t know how the writing fits for its target audience. Even when I was a child, I didn´t read children´s literature. The language isn´t beautiful or particularly enchanting. However, it does get its point across and that is probably more important to its goals.¤

6) Paperback Book Tyler & His Solve-a-Matic Machine- Winner in the 2007 Excellent Books Category from the Prestigious iParenting Media (Future Business Leaders' Series™) by Bouje Publishing. The fantasy story helps prepare kids for tomorrow´s world by teaching them how to think creatively, turn what they love to do into business ideas, explore products and services around them, set realistic goals, overcome obstacles and realize their dreams. In the magical city of Nessibus, Tyler, dreams of sailing around the world. Without a father and mother, he has no idea how he will ever make this dream come true. That is until the Great Spirit of the Entrepreneurs, calls him to invent a great machine to help him do his homework and create a business to make many of these machines for his friends. Rising to the challenge, Tyler befriends a hungry monkey, a chatty octopus, and a number-crunching polar bear to help him get his business running. But pirate parrots, loan sharks and united termites threaten his dream. This story appeals to children because it arouses their senses as the main characters perform adventurous tasks and solve challenging, play-on-word riddles. It appeals to parents because it celebrates entrepreneurialism, capitalism, and free-trade. In the face of extreme global competition, readers will discover why it is important to introduce kids to entrepreneurship and business concepts early on in life, . The message crosses all geographic, gender, racial, and socioeconomic lines, enabling kids to reach their dreams and become successful.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 13-Nov-2008, 09779265089780977926503, 560-860-390-080-160-990-8

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