Forest Economics Series

Welcome to the Forest Economics Series

The Forest Economics Series introduces young readers to the big ideas behind every economy—scarcity, choice, trade, work, fairness, trust, and value—but not through charts or lectures. Instead, these lessons come alive through jam jars, seed pouches, floating logs, and pie stalls. They unfold in rhyme, through creatures with feathers, fur, and wisdom in their paws.

Each fable in this collection stands on its own, but together they form a living, breathing map of how a society—any society—grows, shares, and learns.

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For Adults Reading Along

You don’t need a background in economics to share these stories. In fact, that’s the point.

These tales are designed for read-aloud magic, for circle time curiosity, for bedtime questions that last longer than the rhyme. They teach children not just what money is—but what it means. They show that an economy isn’t a system of numbers. It’s a system of choices, relationships, and fairness.

In each fable, the forest faces a challenge:

• A single basket of berries (scarcity).

• A worm digger without payment (incentives).

• A flood of leaves that devalue pies (inflation).

• A market shaken by stampede thinking (behavioral economics).

  
  

  And at the heart of it all, characters who must think, feel, and act wisely.

These lessons are framed through metaphor, emotion, and play—so they can be shared with children as young as five and still resonate with grown-ups reading beside them.

How to Use This Book

There’s no single way to explore the forest. You can read one story a day, or follow the fables by topic. You can stop to ask, “What would you do?” or act them out with voices and games. At the end of each story, you’ll find a moral—a line meant to linger in young minds and grown-up hearts.

Together, these stories form not just a primer on economics—but a fable-shaped invitation to think carefully, kindly, and collaboratively about how we live and share.

An Epigraph for the Journey

“The forest was not built in a day. But it grew—one fair exchange at a time.”

— Owliver the Grey