Books to teach children about money

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Liv handing over her books to Wong at the State Library yesterday.

Liv handing over her books to Wong at the State Library yesterday.

KOTA KINABALU: Mother of three, Liv Sarah Thun was looking for a children’s book that can introduce and explain the basics of money to children, but could not find any and decided she would write not one but two such books.

With her passion for and 10 years background in early education, Liv used her experience to come up with the Dollar Babies Series’ two sets of books, namely ‘What is Money?’ and ‘Do Good with Money’.

“The goal is to avoid using big words which are already available in existing financial books and publications and use words that four to five-year-olds can pick up and understand,” said the Sabahan-born and bred first time author.

The 37-year-old law graduate from the University of Notthingham in the United Kingdom added that the books would be relevant with today’s generation, “considering that 70 per cent of our youths are in debt.”

“It’s (money) a country issue. So if taught from young, maybe we can help our children to not be part of the statistics,” explained Liv, in a handing-over ceremony at the Sabah State Library yesterday.

Liv presented three copies of each book to State Library director Wong Vui Yin yesterday, who commended Liv for coming up with the simplified understanding of such topics for children.

“Some parents, especially the young ones, are clueless as to how to approach the topic with their children. Money continues to be a very subjective topic and the understanding of it depends on family backgrounds.

“And while money is something that everyone needs to know how to manage and good to teach from young, rarely has there been any such books, especially designed for children. These books are apt as they are simple and colourful, easy for children to understand.

The books are available in bookstores nationwide including Times, Popular and MPH, as well as local bookstores such as Apple Bookstore and Zenithway.