Face the Music: Updated and Expanded Edition

The Startup Squad #2

by Brian Weisfeld, Nicole C. Kear

Updated and expanded edition includes entrepreneurship word search and quiz!

Girls mean business in The Startup Face the Music, the second novel in the series, which Kirkus Reviews calls “an enjoyable and diverse story highlighting friendship, entrepreneurship, and perseverance.”

Harriet’s brothers are hoping to enter a local battle of the bands. Winning could get them on a reality TV show! But low funds have left them without even a working guitar. The Startup Squad jumps into action―and quickly pulls together a plan to sell T-shirts to raise money.

The girls have a lot of great ideas―until everything starts to go wrong. When all the problems start turning disappointed fans into an angry mob, the girls realize they have to get back into the groove before the band members―and the Startup Squad―break up for good!

Each book in this middle-grade series by Brian Weisfeld and Nicole C. Kear also features business tips for kids starting or running their first businesses, plus an inspirational profile of a young girl entrepreneur !

Genres: Middle Grade, Childrens

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2020

About the author

Brian Weisfeld has been building businesses his entire life. In elementary school, he bought 95 pounds of gummy bears and hired his friends to sell them. As a teen, he made and sold mixtapes (ask your parents what those are), sorted baseball cards (he got paid in cards), babysat four days a week after school, and sold nuts and dried fruit (and more gummy bears) in a neighborhood store. As an adult, Brian helped build a number of well-known billion-dollar companies including IMAX Corporation and Coupons.com. Brian is the Founder and Chief Squad Officer of The Startup Squad, an initiative dedicated to empowering girls to realize their potential, whatever their passions. Brian lives in Silicon Valley and can often be found eating gummy bears with his wife while watching his two daughters sell lemonade from the end of their driveway.

Visit www.thestartupsquad.com to watch videos of amazing girl CEOs, get activities and guides for the series, and see tips and resources for your child's first business.

Visit www.youretheboss.com to download a business plan template for kids to help your kids start a business and learn to think like an entrepreneur.

Learn more about The Startup Squad at @thestartupsquad on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and more!

Reviews

[Jasmine from How Useful It Is · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the startups concept where kids can read and learn to think about making money. I'm surprised that this is the second time the girls are working together to raise money that they would learn their lessons about teamwork and organization. But each just made her own decisions, argued when disasters strike, and individually fixed the problems. (Second time working together because this is the second book in the series). As I read further, I get the idea why they made so many mistakes but somehow it just makes me lose interest in reading the story before I get to the part of the book where they tried to correct their errors. Four friends from 4 different backgrounds... Vietnamese, Indian, etc... obvious much!


This book followed Harriet Nguyen as she attempted to make something with marshmallows, if only she could find the marshmallows first. While she searched, her friends Amelia, Didi, and Resa came to visit. They brought news posted from the newspaper to Harriet. However, Harriet was not excited because she ruined something of her brother Larry's, 16. The girls planned to do a fundraising to fix the problem.


Face the Music is my first read in The Startup Squad series. Although I didn't enjoyed the start of the book, I do liked the ending. I liked the friendship and how they tried to cheer each other up when one was down. They do analyze their mistakes and tried to fix it. Each friend has a distinct personality that somehow complement each other. Harriet likes to live on the fast lane but she makes too many mistakes. These characters are middle schoolers but the story failed to mention their age.

xoxo, Jasmine at www.howusefulitis.wordpress.com for more details

Many thanks to Fierce Reads for the opportunity to read and review.

[Rajiv · Rating 4 out of 5]

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“Face the Music” is the first book I read from “The Startup Squad” series, but I had no trouble following it.

I immediately loved the book because it encouraged the reader to think about managing a business. Whether it is a small or large one, the writers provide excellent tips on managing a business successfully through good organization and planning and effective customer service. It is never too early to develop these skills. Even if you don’t own a business, these are good attributes for conversing with people and organizing tasks.

The authors also wrote the characters charmingly. Each of the girls brings something new that sets them apart. Harriet is an energetic extrovert but lacking business strategy. Didi is the shy but talented one who comes up with the designs. Resa and Amelia are business savvy and have various ideas to have their merchandise stand out. All of them have a nice friendship where they work together. I also liked the side storyline between Val and Resa and hope Val is prominent in future books.

Similarly, the authors also paced the plot nicely with the team facing challenges to buy Larry a new guitar for Battle of the Bands. However, my only concern with the story was that each of the girls did not have equal time. Didi hardly got any presence in the book. It would have been nice if she was prominent, even if the book did not center around her.

Apart from that, I adored the book and am excited to read the other two books in the series. Overall, “The Startup Squad #2 Face the Music” is a beautiful middle-grade novel worth checking out.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second book in the new Startup Squad series has our group of entrepreneurial friends working to promote a band. The series is all about the adventures of four friends - Harriet, Resa, Amelia, and Didi - who take matters into their own hands, learning how to earn money by creating their own businesses! In the first Startup Squad adventure, the girls worked to get a lemonade stand business up and running for a class assignment and grand prize. Here, Harriet's brothers are in a band called the Radical Skinks; they're kind of on hiatus because Harriet accidentally broker her brother's guitar. A Battle of the Bands is on the horizon, where the winner would get a spot on the huge talent show hit, American Supahstars! The Startup Squad jumps into action with a plan to sell t-shirts, raising enough money to get a new guitar for Harriet's brother, Larry, in time for the show... but Harriet tends to be a little overenthusiastic, and doesn't think things quite through, which cause a lot of tangles for the girls: and the band. Can the Startup Squad get it together in time to help the Skinks get back on their feet?

This is a fun, comprehensive series that embraces entrepreneurship and shows kids that everyone can start a business with the right information and drive. The multicultural group of girls each has different strengths and skills, and get some solid information and encouragement from friends and family members on the way. They make believable mistakes to illustrate the pitfalls of going into a business without a fully sketched out plan, and how to correct those mistakes the next time. Back matter includes a section on what principles the girls learned in this adventure, a breakdown of the terms and how to put them to use, with tips and emphasis on customer service, negotiating, and revenue vs. profit; there's also a profile on a real-life tween entrepreneur. Brian Weisfeld is the founder of The Startup Squad; he was inspired after being disappointed in the lack of entrepreneurial books available for girls. Author Nicole Kear is also the author of The Fix-It Friends series, where a group of friend solve problems together.  

The Startup Squad website has a wealth of information for young entrepreneurs, including free, downloadable parent and teacher guides; activity kits; business tips, and book recommendations. Add these to your collections and booktalk/display with books like The Babysitter's Club (the original chapter book series and the newer graphic novels) and Jessie Janowitz's novels The Doughnut Fix and The Doughnut King. The Startup Squad and The Fix-It Friends are great for those readers that are moving out of intermediate chapter books and moving toward longer fiction. 

[K.L. Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The girls of the Startup Squad are back with a second big idea. This time the stakes are greater, and they need to do something more than a lemonade stand. Harriet accidentally stepped on and broke the guitar of her brother Larry who plays in the Skinks band. As a result, the band could no longer practice or even play a gig. The big idea was to sell Skinks merchandise to earn enough money to buy a new guitar for Larry.

The Squad agreed to sell t-shirts. But once again individual ideas and personalities put the group on edge and the brothers in the band couldn’t decide on a logo. Their team did stay busy planning the bands gig but had forgotten about Larry not having a guitar to play. With some luck and charm Harriett gets a guitar from Mo the owner of Music Mania. Now, the t-shirts were ready but printed with the wrong slogan. Is there anything else that could possibly go wrong with the Squads big idea? How will they pull this fundraiser off?

Readers will love this second book in the series. Fun characters with everyday issues and plenty of problem solving will keep readers engaged. This fast-paced read is perfect for a class read-a-loud. The back pages offer tips for starting a business and an interview with a real-life entrepreneur.

[Erin Buhr · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE STARTUP SQUAD is such a great new series for kids. This chapter book is the second in the series about a group of friends with great entrepreneur aspirations. In FACE THE MUSIC they move on from lemonade stands to creating, marketing and selling t-shirts for Harriet's brothers' band. Everything goes wrong and I love how the characters learn from their many mistakes and try again. It is such a great example of perseverance and business skills in a very real world situation. The girls explore pricing, business organization, marketing, negotiating and more. The diverse group of friends lends itself to plenty of disagreements, but also comedy and problem solving and collaboration. There is so much to love about these books and I can't wait to read the next one!

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second in this series about middle-school friends and entrepreneurs. Each of the girls brings their own talents to the group and they figure out how to balance each other and make money. In this book, they sell t-shirts to promote Harriet's brothers' band. The first outing is a disaster and they learn from this failure. Readers learn along with them. Informative text included at the end.
I got a little tired of Harriet's portrayal as always making mistakes and having to be rescued by friends.

[Leora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book for my daughter and her friend for their monthly book club. They just finished 4th grade. They both enjoyed the characters and the pets in the book. They sat outside and read to each other during COVID-19. They really enjoyed the book and getting to read together!

[Rebecca Gatzlaff · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked:
1) I like the representation of different women.
2) I like learning how to run a business and dealing with customers
What I didn't like:
1) I didn't like the main character Harriet. She was needy.
2) I didn't like the progression of the story.

[Ron Frampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harriet and her friends need to help her brothers get enough money to be a band on a reality show.

[Nicole M. Hewitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review and many more can be found on my blog: Feed Your Fiction Addiction

In this installment of the series, the girls join together to help Harriet raise money for a new guitar for her brother (since she was the one who accidentally ruined it). They decide to sell merchandise for the band's fans---but figuring out the logistics is definitely challenging! The girls make lots of mistakes throughout the process, but they learn from each one of them and they don't give up when things get tough. Every entrepreneur will face problems due to inexperience, but each failure is a growing opportunity! As in the first book, friendship and teamwork are highlighted and also a can-do spirit. The result is a fun book that kids can truly learn from!

***Disclosure: I received these books from the publisher via Media Masters Publicity for review purposes. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***