Real money skills for real life
Graphic novels plus 2 classes that go with them, all about money and starting your own thing, for kids in 6th to 8th grade. It's made by a 17 year old who was in 8th grade 3 years ago, so it's about the money stuff kids are really dealing with right now.
This site is for kids and parents to look at together, and every account belongs to a parent.
The books and the lessons work together.
There are 2 classes, and both open online on October 10, 2026, the same day Book 1 comes out. Each lesson goes along with what Max and Maya are dealing with in the books, so kids read the story and then learn how the money part really works.
Money IRL
How money works in real life, starting with your first paycheck.
Be the Boss
How to start your own thing, ending with Pitch Day.
Videos with Max and Maya
Max and Maya host the videos in every lesson, and each video is 90 seconds or less.
Real stuff, not worksheets
A page from the graphic novel tells the idea as a story, and then a build sheet has you make something real with real numbers.
A mission at home
Every lesson ends with something to go do with a grown up, plus a page for your parents so they know what you learned.
The books
Meet Max and Maya
Max and Maya's Money Misadventures is a graphic novel series about twins. Book 1 comes out October 10, 2026, and then a new graphic novel comes out every 3 months for 4 years.
The books follow the twins from leaving 5th grade and starting middle school all the way to starting high school. Those are really big years with a lot going on, and it's hard for parents to keep up, so the money stuff shows up right when kids are running into it.
Every book is a funny story about school and family and friends and getting a little more freedom, and there's always a money decision in the middle that has real results. Honestly some of those decisions go really badly, which is kind of the point.
Every 3 months
A new book arrives every three months, with fresh adventures and money choices to explore together.
Grows with your kid
As the twins grow, their money choices grow with them, from middle school days to starting high school.
Started with Mia's drawings
Mia drew Max, Maya and their friends. Her original artwork inspired the cast of these graphic novels.
No sponsors
No paid sponsors or product pitches. Future donations will help us reach more kids and schools.
For parents
Money confidence starts at home.
Kids almost never bring a money class home on their own, so we send it home for them. Every week there's 1 page for you with something to do together, a question for after dinner and something to tell your kid about how money works in your family, and it takes about 10 minutes.
- You pick how much to share, just words, rough ranges or real numbers, and we never ask what your family has.
- No bank or card company or app pays for any of this.
- No lesson names a money product or tells your kid what to do with their money.
The membership
- The digital version of every graphic novel, free with your membership, the day each one comes out
- Both classes, Money IRL and Be the Boss
- The weekly parent page
- Vote 4 times a year on what Max and Maya do next
- Send in your own money stories and drawings, and some end up in the graphic novels
- A goal page for your family, and a spot on the goal wall when your kid gets there
Printed graphic novels
- Hold the real book in your hands
- Keep the whole collection on your bookshelf
- Pass them down to friends when you're done
- Same price for everybody, members too
Live group
- A live session every week with an experienced teacher
- Small groups of 20 families max, so every kid gets a turn to talk
- Kids learn with other kids their age, which is way more fun than doing it alone
- Ask the questions a video can't answer and get answers right then
- Parents join in, so the whole family is on the same page
- It ends with a celebration where kids show what they made
Money tight? Just tell us.
Any family who says they can't pay gets everything free, you don't have to explain anything, and that rule never runs out.
Kids help write it
Help write the next book
The best money stories come from real kids, so members can send in stuff that really happened, and some of it ends up in a book or a video. Families pick which of these they want to do in their sharing choices, and everything starts turned off.
A money moment
The most confusing money thing that happened to you this year. We change names and schools and towns first.
Caught it!
A money trick you spotted, like a countdown timer that starts over or a game that keeps asking for just a little more money.
Vote
4 times a year members vote on what the twins do next, like should Maya spend it or keep saving.
Draw them
Your drawings of Max and Maya go in the gallery. We show them and we never sell them.
Everything goes through a parent's account, and a grown up reads it all before anything happens with it.
The goal wall
Every page of every book ends with a little bar showing what a character saved and what they're saving for, and families can make the same thing at home. Only families who turn it on show up, and the wall shows the goal and that you got there, never names or how much.
Saving for a skateboard
7th grade
Got it!Saving for concert tickets
8th grade
Still goingSaving for a present for a friend
6th grade
Still goingWe redo it every year. Prices and apps and scams change all the time, so everything gets rewritten every year. Each year we interview 10 families, with parents there, to hear what kids want improved and why, and at the end of every chapter we ask what was confusing and what you want added, and we read every single answer.
Get started
Start free
We open the doors to our classes on October 10, 2026. A parent signs up, and then the kid watches on the parent's account.
Kids never get their own account
We ask a parent for their name, their email, which grades are in the house and the family's sharing choices, and that's all. We never ask for a kid's name, email, photo, school, address or birthday, and there's nowhere in the class to type any of that.
Every sharing choice starts turned off, so nothing your family sends is used or shown unless you turn it on, and you can change your choices any time.
We use the email to send new lessons, new books and the parent page, and we never sell it or share it with advertisers. Want to see what we have, change it or delete it? Just send us a message, and here's the privacy page.
About
Who makes this
Mia B.
Founder and owner
Mia started Middle School Money and she owns all of it. Before writing anything she went and asked middle schoolers what they already do with money and what they wish somebody would explain. She drew the original cast, Max and Maya and their friends, and the graphic novels are adapted from her drawings.
"I started this project 2 years after I graduated from middle school. Nobody had explained any of this to me, so I asked kids what they wanted to know and made the thing I wish I had."
Mia's team
Mia has curriculum advisors and experienced teachers who help teach the online classes and make sure every lesson works in a real classroom.
For schools
A money class your teacher can run on Monday.
Both classes come as free teacher guides that any teacher can run in class on paper, with no student logins.
- Money IRL in 8 sessions and Be the Boss in 6, as printable teacher guides.
- 3 session lengths, 60 minutes as written, 42 minutes, or 20 minutes a day split over 2 days.
- A page home to parents every week, sent through the school's own channels.
- Free digital versions of the graphic novels and all the online materials.
- Introduces or practises 9 of the 13 topics in California's required high school course, and leaves the other 4 for high school on purpose.
Extras your school can add
None of these are required, because every teacher guide is a full teaching manual that a teacher can read and learn on their own. Founding pilot schools and Title I schools get the teacher training free, and we're looking for founding pilot schools for spring 2027.
What student data comes to us? None.
When a school runs the classroom lessons, no student information comes to us at all. We get no student names, no rosters and no parent contact details, and students never make accounts or log in to anything. The optional before and after check has no name on it, only a code each student makes up, and we'll sign your district's data privacy agreement.
The family membership higher up this page is a separate thing that parents pick on their own, so a school never signs anyone up for it and never passes anyone's details to us. Membership codes work the same way, because the parent is the one who signs up.
A smarter money future starts now.
Book 1 and both classes come out October 10, 2026. A parent signs up, the kid reads the book and does the lesson, and then they go do something real.
Get started today