For the grown-ups who walk alongside a child
Ages, learning goals, topics by volume, classroom materials and facts for the press. All on one page, so the kids' pages can stay kids' pages.
What the series is about
Kids use money long before they ever see a tax return. They hear adults talk about prices, salaries, inflation or the stock market and often don't know what's behind it all. That's where the Business Guinea Pigs come in. The point isn't to hand kids ready-made opinions or money rules. They should understand, ask questions, do the math, compare and see for themselves why economic decisions rarely have just one simple answer.
I'm not interested in adding one more book to the shelf. I want to give curious kids, early on, the things that really matter.
Daria Helck in the afterword of the booksWhich volume covers which topics?
| Volume | Topic | Key terms | Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volume 1: Wer kassiert mit? (Who Takes a Cut?) | Taxes | Taxes, income, costs, profit, tax office, basic tax-free allowance | 38 |
| Volume 2: The Lazy Supplier | Contracts and consumer rights | Contract, fine print, subscription trap, defect, complaint, consumer rights, the allowance law | 46 |
| Volume 3: Rocky Becomes the Boss! | Starting a company | Starting a business, revenue, profit, business idea, target group, startup capital, liability, responsibility | 52 |
| Volume 4: Why Is So Little Left? | Wages, gross and net | Gross and net, wages, payroll tax, social insurance, labor costs, minimum wage, employment contract | 88 |
| Volume 5: Everything Costs More! | Inflation | Inflation, purchasing power, basket of goods, price, unit price, shrinkflation, supply and demand | 90 |
| Volume 6: Rocky Buys a Share | Shares and the stock market | Share, shareholder, stock exchange, share price, dividend, diversification, risk | 92 |
All volumes: for ages 10 and up, reading age 10 to 14, bilingual, German and English, paperback and Kindle eBook on Amazon.
Questions from parents
Why economics at 10?
At ten, kids use money, hear adults talk about prices, salaries, inflation or the stock market, and ask what's behind it. That's exactly where the books start. No prior knowledge needed. The reading age goes up to 14.
How do the books talk about investing, taxes and politics?
They describe; they don't judge. On politics, they explain who decides what and why there are different interests. On investing, they always name the chances and the risks together, and never promise returns. The books are not investment, tax or legal advice, and all numbers are rounded examples.
How do the bilingual books work?
Every paragraph appears first in German, with the English right below it. Kids who speak German read the story in German and pick up the English words along the way; kids who speak English can read in English and pick up German. At the back of every volume there's a dictionary with the most important terms in both languages. Volumes 3 to 6 are written in American English.
How long is a volume, and how long does it take to read?
Volumes 1 to 3 have 38 to 52 pages, Volumes 4 to 6 have 88 to 92 pages, each with ten chapters, illustrated in full color throughout, in a 7 × 10 inch format (17.8 × 25.4 centimeters). A chapter takes ten to fifteen minutes to read.
Are there sample pages?
Yes. The volume pages on this site show the plot and the key lines and words from each book, and Amazon has Look Inside. Free in the FLITCH Club, there are worksheets, two single coloring pages, a certificate and parent pages to go with the books; the coloring book and Die Schweinchenkasse are for sale in the FLITCH shop.
Where can I buy the books?
On Amazon, as a paperback and Kindle eBook. The books are printed through Amazon, so they can also be ordered at bookstores that source through Amazon. The printable booklets (€4.90 to €6.90) are available in the FLITCH shop and on Etsy.
The Business Guinea Pigs in the classroom
The books are deliberately not textbooks or workbooks, but they explain the key terms within an ongoing story, in German and English. That makes them good supplementary reading on taxes, consumer rights, starting a business, wages, inflation or shares, in economics classes as well as English classes, from about fifth grade. Which grade covers which topic depends on the state and the curriculum; it's best to check that yourself.
- The Learning Corner on this site: every question explained briefly, with a quiz, no sign-up needed.
- A German–English dictionary at the back of every volume, with a selection on the volume pages.
- Free in the FLITCH Club: three worksheets (Lemonade Stand, My Best Idea, Savings Mission), two coloring pages for Volume 1, a certificate and support materials for conversations about money.
- For sale in the FLITCH shop: Die Schweinchenkasse, an allowance planner (€6.90), and the coloring book (€4.90); teachers may copy purchased pages for their own class.
- All booklets print well in black and white, too.
We're open to working with schools, especially on materials: worksheets, companion pages for individual volumes or a topic pack for a teaching unit. We don't offer author readings. You can order class sets like any other book, through Amazon or a bookstore; single worksheets are free in the FLITCH Club, and the booklets are for sale in the FLITCH shop.
At a glance
The Business Guinea Pigs is a bilingual children's book series about economics, money and politics for ages 10 and up. In each volume, ten-year-olds Daria and Christian run into something in everyday life they don't understand, and their four guinea pigs, Rocky, Mr. Grey, Toffy and Mojito, explain it, each from their own point of view. The four guinea pigs are real. Six volumes have been published (June to October 2026), and ten are planned.
- Author: Daria Helck · Publisher: FLITCH UG, Braunschweig
- Format: paperback, 7 × 10 in (17.8 × 25.4 cm), full color throughout, 38 to 92 pages; Kindle eBook
- Language: every paragraph in German and English
- Available on Amazon; printables in the FLITCH shop
The people behind it
We're happy to provide covers and character images for articles on request. The illustrations in the series may not be reused without permission.