The Brainstormerz: Money Talks

by Kwame Alexander

Three creative friends team up to brainstorm big ideas — and when money enters the picture, they learn about teamwork, ethics, and what really matters.

Big Idea

Great ideas come from collaboration — and the best solutions consider more than just the bottom line.

Discussion Questions

1.What big idea do the Brainstormerz come up with?
2.How does money change the way they think about their project?
3.What does the team learn about working together?
4.What's a problem you'd like to brainstorm a solution for?

Lesson Plan

⏱ 50–60 minutes, with selected book scenes read beforehand📦 Copies of The Brainstormerz: Money Talks, paper or comic-panel templates, pencils, crayons or colored pencils, chart paper or a whiteboard

Learning Goals

Explain how the three friends’ collaboration shapes their ideas, using evidence from dialogue and illustrations in The Brainstormerz: Money Talks.
Discuss how money can influence decisions and compare financial benefits with fairness, inclusion, and community well-being.
Collaborate with a partner to brainstorm three creative solutions to a school or community problem.
Use a comic panel with dialogue, captions, and visual details to communicate a solution and its positive impact.

Activity Steps

1.Read or revisit a scene in which the friends brainstorm or face a money-related decision. Discuss: How do they build on one another’s ideas? What matters besides making or saving money? Ask students to support their answers with dialogue or illustrations.
2.With a partner, choose a specific school or community problem, such as playground litter, limited access to supplies, or students feeling left out at recess. Write one sentence explaining who is affected and why the problem matters.
3.Brainstorm three different solutions. Partners take turns contributing and building on ideas; record every suggestion before evaluating it.
4.Compare the three solutions using four questions: What might it cost? Who would benefit? Is it fair and inclusive? Could it cause a new problem? Choose a solution that balances practicality with helping others.
5.Draw one comic panel showing the chosen solution in action. Include a setting, characters, a speech bubble showing collaboration, and a caption explaining how the solution helps. Add a brief note about resources or costs.
6.Share panels with another pair. Explain how your teamwork connects to the friends in Money Talks and why your solution considers more than the bottom line. Invite feedback and make one improvement.

Standards Connections

ELA: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3–RL.7.3 — Analyze characters, their interactions, and how their decisions influence events; select the grade-appropriate standard.
ELA: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.1–SL.7.1 — Participate effectively in collaborative discussions, building on others’ ideas and expressing ideas clearly.
ELA: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3–W.7.3 — Develop a brief illustrated narrative using characters, dialogue, and descriptive details.
SEL: Relationship skills — Practice turn-taking, active listening, collaborative problem-solving, and constructive feedback.
SEL: Responsible decision-making — Evaluate solutions for fairness, costs, consequences, and community well-being.

Pace-Write-Read Study with Pace-Write It!

Focus question: How does pacing help a story about big ideas, money, and friendship feel exciting while also making readers think? In The Brainstormerz: Money Talks by Kwame Alexander, three creative friends bounce ideas off one another as they face choices about money, teamwork, and doing what is right. The graphic novel’s pacing moves quickly through lively dialogue, expressive panels, and page turns, then slows down at key moments so readers can notice feelings, decisions, and the meaning behind the friends’ choices.

Element	How to notice or teach it in the novel
Pace	Read: Notice how The Brainstormerz: Money Talks moves fast when the three friends are brainstorming and talking over one another, then slows when money creates a problem and they have to think about ethics and friendship. Classroom Activity: Write a short scene in which three friends rush to plan a money-making idea, then pause when one friend asks, “Is this the right thing to do?”
Plot	Read: Track how the plot grows from creative fun to a conflict about money, choices, and what really matters to the Brainstormerz. Classroom Activity: Make a 5-box plot map showing beginning idea, money problem, disagreement, decision, and lesson learned, then turn each box into 1-2 sentences.
Prosody	Read: Listen to the sound of the dialogue and narration in this graphic novel, especially how the language can feel playful, punchy, and performance-ready in Kwame Alexander’s style. Classroom Activity: Rewrite one imagined conversation between the three friends so it sounds energetic when read aloud, using line breaks or repeated sounds for emphasis.
Word pause	Read: Notice where a single word, short phrase, or reaction might be isolated in a panel or speech bubble to make readers stop and feel the moment when money changes the conversation. Classroom Activity: Write 4-6 lines of dialogue about a surprising money idea and include one one-word line such as “Wait.” or “Really?” to create a pause.
Concept	Read: Think about the big concept in The Brainstormerz: Money Talks: money is not just about buying things, but about values, fairness, teamwork, and self-expression. Classroom Activity: Write a paragraph explaining what the friends learn about money and why that lesson matters for kids working with others.
Voice & World View	Read: Notice how the story’s voice feels creative, youth-centered, and thoughtful, showing a world where kids’ ideas matter and where money decisions reveal character. Classroom Activity: Write in the voice of one Brainstormerz friend explaining what money should be used for and why.
Setting & Place	Read: Pay attention to the places where the friends meet, talk, create, and solve problems, and how those spaces help the story feel active and collaborative. Classroom Activity: Describe a meeting place for a team of kid creators and explain how that place helps or hurts their teamwork.
Point of View	Read: Notice whose thoughts and reactions seem most important in different moments and how the graphic novel helps readers understand group dynamics through expressions and dialogue. Classroom Activity: Retell a key money-related disagreement from the point of view of one friend who feels unheard.
Original Characters	Read: Study how the three creative friends each bring different strengths, opinions, and reactions when money enters their project. Classroom Activity: Invent a fourth Brainstormerz-style character with a special talent, a strong opinion about money, and one habit that affects the group.
Dialogue	Read: Notice how the dialogue reveals personality, conflict, and teamwork as the friends brainstorm, debate, and react to money. Classroom Activity: Write a dialogue-only scene between the three friends about whether they should choose profit, fairness, or creativity first.
Details	Read: Look for small details in words and images that show who the friends are, what they care about, and when the money issue starts to change the mood. Classroom Activity: Write 6 sensory or visual details that could appear in a panel showing a brainstorm session turning tense.
Descriptions	Read: Notice how brief but vivid descriptions in a graphic novel work together with the art to make emotions and ideas clear without slowing the story too much. Classroom Activity: Write a 5-sentence description of the moment the team realizes money might hurt their friendship.
Strong First Lines	Read: Think about how an opening in this kind of fast, creative story needs to grab readers right away with energy, voice, or a problem. Classroom Activity: Write three possible first lines for a Brainstormerz-inspired story about kids with a brilliant idea and a money dilemma.
Immediacy & Engagement	Read: Notice how quick exchanges, expressive reactions, and direct stakes make readers feel like they are inside the brainstorm with the friends. Classroom Activity: Write a scene that begins in the middle of an argument about what to do with earned money so readers feel immediate tension.
Story Scenes & Summaries & Unique Structures	Read: Watch how some moments likely play out panel by panel as scenes, while other parts move quickly through summary to keep the story lively and focused. Classroom Activity: Write one scene in full dialogue and action, then add a 2-sentence summary that skips ahead to the next big problem.
Flashback & Flash Forward & Cliffhangers	Read: Notice any places where characters remember an earlier idea, imagine what could happen next, or end a page on a question that pulls readers forward. Classroom Activity: Write a short cliffhanger ending for a page where one friend discovers something troubling about the team’s money plan.
Tension & Suspense & Surprise	Read: Pay attention to how the story builds tension when the friends may not agree about money and surprises readers with reactions or decisions that reveal what matters most. Classroom Activity: Write 6-8 sentences that build suspense before the group votes on an important money choice.
Page Turns and Chapter Breaks	Read: Notice how a graphic novel can place a surprise, joke, or problem right before a page turn or chapter break to control pacing. Classroom Activity: Plan a two-page mini-story and end page one with a line that makes readers have to turn the page.
Performance	Read: Notice how the dialogue and visual energy in The Brainstormerz: Money Talks feel performative, almost like the friends are onstage pitching ideas to one another. Classroom Activity: Script a 1-minute read-aloud performance in which each of the three friends pitches a different use for the money.
Personality	Read: Study how each friend’s personality shapes the pace of the conversation—one may rush, one may question, and one may try to keep the peace. Classroom Activity: Write three short character notes showing how each friend would react differently to finding extra money in the project fund.
Humor	Read: Notice how humor can keep a story about ethics and conflict from feeling too heavy, especially when creative friends bounce off one another. Classroom Activity: Write a funny exchange where the Brainstormerz misunderstand a money term before learning its real meaning.
Pause	Read: Look for moments when the story slows down so readers can feel disappointment, guilt, pride, or relief after a money-related choice. Classroom Activity: Write a quiet reflection moment for one friend after the group argues, using 4-5 sentences and strong emotion words.
Poetry and Poetic Devices	Read: Because Kwame Alexander often writes with musical language, notice places where repetition, sound, imagery, or line rhythm could make even ordinary talk feel poetic. Classroom Activity: Write a 6-line poem from one friend’s point of view about what matters more than money.
Repetition	Read: Notice if important words or ideas—such as money, idea, fair, share, or team—echo across the story to reinforce its message. Classroom Activity: Write a paragraph or poem that repeats one key word three times to show a character’s growing realization.
Rhythm	Read: Feel how the rhythm of short speech bubbles, quick jokes, and back-and-forth reactions speeds up the story, while longer reflective moments slow it down. Classroom Activity: Write 8 lines alternating short and long sentences to create a changing rhythm in a group discussion.
Punctuation	Read: Notice how question marks, dashes, ellipses, and exclamation points help show excitement, interruption, hesitation, or shock when the friends talk about money. Classroom Activity: Write a dialogue scene using at least four different punctuation marks to show changing emotions.
Questions	Read: Track the questions the story raises: What is fair? What should friends do when money changes things? What matters most? Classroom Activity: Write five questions one Brainstormerz friend might ask before agreeing to a money-making plan, then answer one in detail.
Compare-Contrast	Read: Compare how the friends act when they are focused only on creativity versus when money becomes part of the plan. Classroom Activity: Make a T-chart comparing “Before money enters” and “After money enters,” then write a short paragraph about the biggest change.
Objects	Read: Notice how important objects—cash, coins, notes, sketches, tools, or a shared project—can symbolize choices and responsibility in the story. Classroom Activity: Choose one object from the friends’ project world and write about how it could represent trust or conflict.
Threes	Read: Pay attention to the power of three in this book: three friends, three viewpoints, and possibly three competing goals like profit, fairness, and creativity. Classroom Activity: Write a set of three rules the Brainstormerz should follow when handling money together.
Whitespace & Negative Space	Read: In a graphic novel, empty space can slow readers down and highlight a facial expression, a difficult choice, or a lonely feeling after conflict. Classroom Activity: Plan a comic panel with very little text and explain what emotion the empty space would help show.
Art & Graphics	Read: Notice how panel size, facial expressions, motion lines, and visual layout help pace The Brainstormerz: Money Talks and show the energy of brainstorming as well as the seriousness of ethical choices. Classroom Activity: Sketch or describe three panels showing the same scene: one fast, one tense, and one calm.
Interactives & Gamification	Read: Think about how readers could interact with the book’s ideas by making choices about what the friends should do with money and seeing different outcomes. Classroom Activity: Create a simple choice chart with two or three options for the Brainstormerz’ next move and explain the consequence of each one.

Pace-Write It!

20-Minute Classroom Flow\nRead (5 min): Read a short section of The Brainstormerz: Money Talks by Kwame Alexander in which the three friends are excited about an idea and then begin to disagree once money becomes important. Ask students to listen for where the story speeds up and where it slows down.\n\nNotice (5 min): Discuss: How do the panels, dialogue, and page turns shape the pacing? Where do readers feel excitement, tension, humor, or a pause for reflection? Chart student noticings under two headings: “Speeds the story up” and “Slows the story down.”\n\nWrite (7 min): Students write a short Brainstormerz-inspired scene about three friends creating an idea that leads to a money problem. They must include: 1 quick dialogue exchange, 1 pause line, and 1 sentence that shows what really matters. Writing frame: “We had a big idea: ____. At first, everyone said, ‘____!’ Then money entered the conversation when ____. ‘____?’ asked ____. The room went quiet. I realized that ____ mattered more than ____.”\n\nShare (3 min): Partners read their scenes aloud with expression. Listeners name one place where the pacing felt fast and one place where the pacing slowed down effectively.\n\nExit ticket: In one or two sentences, answer: How did you use pacing to show both excitement and an important lesson about money, teamwork, or self-expression?

Pace-Write-Read Connection

Teach this book using the Pace-Write-Read method — Tool 29: Questions.

Open the Mastery Manual

Classroom Activity

Brainstorm a Solution

Pick a problem in your school or community. Brainstorm three creative solutions with a partner and draw one as a comic panel.

Brainstorm a Solution

Pick a problem in your school or community. Brainstorm three creative solutions with a partner and draw one as a comic panel.

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