Book 1
The Asia Currency Challenge
Four school friends are thrown into a fast-paced adventure across Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City. This SPEND pillar book teaches children what money actually is, how currencies and exchange rates work, and how to tell a genuine need from a want.
The Story
When Tom Whitfield finds a gold-edged card tucked behind his school locker, he assumes it's a prank. It isn't. Within days, he and three classmates — Sophia, Lucas and Mai — are selected for a mysterious international competition, and flown to Bangkok with a strict budget, a laminated rulebook, and no real idea what they've actually signed up for.
What starts as a straightforward currency challenge quickly becomes something considerably stranger. A compass-and-coin symbol keeps appearing in places it shouldn't. A hundred-year-old ledger surfaces with entries that don't add up. And a rival team seems to already know more than they should.
Travelling through Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City, the four friends have to manage a real budget across four different currencies, make honest mistakes, and slowly realise that whoever is behind this competition is testing something considerably larger than their maths.
What Students Learn
- How to think clearly under pressure, with real consequences attached to their decisions
- The difference between a need and a want, and why that distinction matters
- How to compare value across different currencies and price points
- Why a good decision and a lucky outcome aren't the same thing
- The confidence to ask questions rather than assume they already understand
Key Financial Concepts
- Currency & exchange rates — what money is actually worth in a different country
- Budgeting — allocating a fixed amount across multiple days and cities
- Opportunity cost — every choice means giving something else up
- Needs vs. wants — a foundational distinction for every financial decision that follows
- Price vs. value — why the cheapest option isn't always the smartest one
The Companion Workbook
Student Workbook 1 turns the novel into practice, using the exact same $600 budget and $1 = ฿35 exchange rate from the story. Across ten units, students learn to convert currencies with real exchange rates, tell the difference between needs and wants, and understand why the same item can be worth completely different amounts depending on where you're standing. The workbook closes with two capstone challenges: a full currency-conversion exercise using the real figures from Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City, and a final decoding puzzle built from the same trade-route numbers the characters uncover in the book, giving students one last mystery to solve using everything they've learned.
Teacher Resources
Workbook 1 is designed to be used independently or as a classroom resource, with each unit built around a specific real-world decision from the novel. No separate lesson plans are required — every activity is self-contained, with a clear Big Question, a worked example from the story, and a hands-on exercise.
Suitable for individual reading, guided classroom use, or a family read-along with the accompanying workbook.
Use This In Your School
The Asia Currency Challenge has been used by teachers as a classroom read-aloud, an independent reading assignment, and the foundation for a short financial literacy unit. If you're a teacher or school interested in bulk copies, curriculum alignment guidance, or a classroom licence for the workbook, we'd love to hear from you.