What kids think when they hear that the "bank's taking the house."

This weekend I took my daughter to see "Ramona and Beezus," a movie based on the Ramona novels by Beverly Cleary Besides it being a little heavy on sappy romance for the six-year-old set, I was struck by the plot's recessionary vibe.

As a child, I read the Ramona series, but I remembered the redhead's antics, not the family's financial struggles.

Ramona's dad loses his job as a number-crunching vice president on the day workers ripped a big hole in the Quimby residence to add an extra bedroom. A heated conversation ensues about whether to put off the addition or risk default if he doesn't find a new gig.

For much of the film, we watch nine-year-old Ramona trying to process grown-up sized concepts like being "downsized" and having the "bank take your house," all the while worrying that the financial strain will cause her parents to divorce.

The Quimby's are maxed out. Bills are piling up and when the car breaks down, her dad juggles credit cards, trying to find one that won't be denied.

And then there's the depressing Mr. Quimby sub-plot. The artistic fellow got stuck in a well-paying VP job because he started a family. He was probably thrilled not to go to work each day. But those bills...

We never see her parents sit down and explain these worrying concepts to her. I'm guessing that would slow down the plot.

I wrote a column on this very topic at the start of the financial crisis.

Another idea is to use movies and books with money themes to get the conversation flowing. Harper-Collins even has a reading guide for the book "Ramona and Her Father" with questions such as:

Mr. Quimby finally lands a new well-paying gig that requires the family to move. But in the end, fairy tale endings and Hollywood happily-ever-afters take hold and he is gets a part-time job teaching art at the local elementary school.

As Laura Vanderkam Wall Street Journal review reminds us, Mr. Quimby's reinvention as an art teacher doesn't work out in the book.

In the real world, I expect most families would have taken that well-paying vp gig, even though it would mean uprooting the family and return Mr. Quimby to a live a passionless paycheck-slave.