Lunch Money chronicles the competition and cooperation between two children: a young entrepreneur, Greg, and his rival, Maura. After Greg figures out that making and selling comic books is profitable, he is dismayed when Maura also starts making and selling books. Her initial venture is a picture book, but she soon teaches herself how to expand her original unicorn story into comic-book format.

Because Greg has already established his experience in the comic-book field and Maura is trying to improve her relationship with him, she brings him her sketches and asks his opinion. Greg had not expected to like them, in part because he is still angry at the idea that Maura has been imitating him. Yet because of their high quality, “Greg was speechless, blown away.”

As he looks at the sketches, Greg cannot help but admire how Maura has quickly begun to master a different genre. She captures both the details and a larger scene, as well as numerous actions, making the whole, complex image come to life:

Maura got it. She understood how a comic book worked.

While acknowledging that he is looking at sketches, he can easily envision the completed product. Although he is not willing to admit it, and contemplates lying to her about the quality, he understands that her work is as good—and maybe better—than his:

[T]hey would be fabulous, they would be … dangerous ... Because if Maura could make drawings like these, she could make fantastic comic books.

If she produces a batch of comics, she could outsell him and get rich. He compares this notion to “unchaining a monster that … [would] eat him alive.”