BIRDIE’S BILLIONS by Edith Cohn

I met Edith Cohn at the Annual American Library Association Conference in June 2024, and when I learned the premise of her middle grade book, BIRDIE’S BILLIONS, I had to feature it. Have a look:

A savvy young girl finds half a million dollars and wonders if she can keep it in this charming middle grade mystery that asks big questions about right, wrong, and what you’d do for family.

For as long as eleven-year-old Birdie can remember, it’s always been just her and her mom, which means there’s not a lot of extra money to spend on things like new clothes and batons from the fancy gymnastics store. Still, they always find a way to make ends meet. Then Birdie makes one silly mistake that has a big Mom loses her job. Now things are more dire than ever, and Birdie knows it’s up to her to fix it.

When Birdie discovers a huge stash of cash in an abandoned house, she just knows it must be the answer to their problems. But the people who left that money behind aren’t willing to give it up so easily. Does “finders, keepers” count when it’s half a million dollars?

In this heartfelt small-town story from beloved author Edith Cohn, Birdie learns how to balance what’s right for her family-and herself-with what’s the right thing to do.

According to your bio, you used to be a 7th grade English teacher. In what ways, if any, did this influence your overall writing journey?

I think the biggest influence was that I understand a teacher’s perpective, which helps me write teacher characters better. I also dove deep into a lot of middle grade books, which was great for craft and strengthened my love of middle grade.

I’ll bet! BIRDIE’S BILLIONS confronts the issue of right and wrong. What was the most challenging part of writing this story?

When I came up with the idea for BIRDIE’S BILLIONS, I was excited, because I thought it would be fast to write. With a realistic setting and uncomplicated world building, what could be easier and more fun to execute than a story about an eleven-year-old finding piles of money hidden in a wall? Well, my ‘easy’ novel took me seven years to finish. Of course, I had a lot of big life things happen during that time, I had a baby, moved to Poland, my husband got cancer. But still, it turned out exploring the consequences of a difficult moral choice was much more complicated than I had originally thought. I also got really stuck in the middle before a scene where Birdie visits the Biltmore Estate mansion. Even though I’d been to the Bilmore before it wasn’t until I revisited that I understood how to write the high stakes scene I needed.

I’m glad you persevered and the Biltmore mansion definitely offers a wonderful setting! And I love the premise of SPIRIT’S KEY, another of your middle grade books. How did this story concept originally come to you?

SPIRIT’S KEY is a mystery about a twelve-year-old girl and her ghost dog who solve a crime on a remote and superstitious island. The idea came when a friend of mine’s dog went missing. I helped her look for the dog and kept seeing dogs that looked similiar to hers. As winter approached in Boston, the dog still unfound, it felt like seeing the dog’s ghost. And that’s how I knew I wanted to write a story about a girl and her ghost dog.

Fascinating! What are some of your current projects?

I have another high concept middle grade mystery I’m working on, which has been stalled as I work on getting divorced. Life sometimes gets in the way of writing, but I always come back to it.

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