Edith Cohn: Hi, my name is Edith Cohn, and I am the author of Birdie's Billions. One of my family members had a crazy true story about finding money and I thought, "I think this would be a really interesting ethical question to explore in a novel."

I really enjoy the character of Birdie. She's really impulsive and always getting into trouble. She's just a lot of fun. When I'm writing her, she does these crazy things. And I'm like, "Oh, I didn't know you were going to do that, Birdie." She was a great character.

I struggled a lot with the plot. I actually thought this book was going to be really easy to write. I thought there's no fantasy element, there's not much world building. And I was so wrong. There's a lot of high-stakes adventure, and I really wanted to keep the stakes rising, and it took a lot of work to figure out how to do that. I struggled a lot. Because it does explore this ethical question, I really wanted kids to think about ... Not exactly the consequences, but think things through to this level that I think a lot of kids maybe don't.

Birdie was inspired by one of the kids that I taught when I was teaching seventh grade, this kid who was super impulsive and just had the best of intentions. He had such an amazing heart. For example, one time we got locked out of the classroom. I didn't bring the key because I didn't actually lock the door. I don't know who locked the door. He was like, "Oh, the teacher needs to get in the classroom." And he just busted the door down. It was really crazy, and it broke the door so it would never lock again. And he just didn't think it through. Birdie's like that. She has a great heart, but she doesn't always think things all the way through.

I'm going to read an excerpt from the book. This is the part where Birdie finds money. She has been praying and wishing for money with all her heart, and here's the big moment:

Cat stuck his nose into a small hole in the wall above the baseboard as if he intended to crawl inside to hide from his new cruel reality. "It would be empty and lonely in there too," Birdie told him. "Maybe you'd rather come home with me to get some food?" The cat purred. Now eye level with the hole, Birdie saw something deep inside the wall. She sucked in a breath. Could it be? Fortunately, the hole was just the right size for a small hand.

Birdie plunged hers inside, clawing to the back of the wall. Eagerly pushing and gripping, her fingers landed on a thick stack of papers. Unfortunately too thick to be easily removed from the small hole. But, rather than let go of what she'd found, Birdie punched backwards with her hand. Bam! Punch! Bam! Punch! Over and over, gripping the wad of paper tight, banging from the inside against the plaster until the wall gave way and the paper could be freed. Her breath caught as she brought the treasure into the dim light. A fat stack of crisp, hundred dollar bills. The light was dim and she didn't trust her eyes, so she brought the stack she'd freed to the window.

It had started raining, pouring cats and dogs actually, like it often did in Valley Lake. The sky just opening up and soaking you to the bone in minutes. But despite the dark sky, she could see what was in her hand. It looked as real as the cat who was swishing against her legs, lest she forget he was hungry. The bills were wrapped in a yellow paper band. It slipped off easily, and the hundreds of hundred dollar bills swirled in circles to the floor.