Title: Who Wants to Be a Litterbug
Author: Donna Goldsmith
Publisher: XlibrisAU
ISBN: 978-1-5434-0897-3
Pages: 26
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Pacific Book Review
In the land down under there exists a bunch of furry and shelled creatures with people’s personifications, living in the ocean, along the beach and in the bushes – all dealing with a common enemy – litter. In author Donna Goldsmith’s delightful illustrated children’s book titled Who Wants to Be a Litterbug, she brings this problem to the awareness of children in an adorable story. Her book is filled with humorous illustrations; for example Mango the Kuala has a fishing hat with corks dangling from it, and his friend Winks, a kangaroo has a straw hat with cool sunnies – both looking like authentic Aussie blokes.
At the start of the book, the litter of plastic bags gets mistakenly eaten by Tina Turtle, causing her to almost choke if it wasn’t for Winks and Mango to the rescue! Then, Willie Wombat gets a can of baked beans stuck on his snoot and needs the help of Akadaka Dingo to pull it off. The problem of litter affects everyone because we all live in the same environment. The solution was to have children all across Australia write an essay and bring to action a massive cleanup of the beaches, water and bush.
Well, eventually the kids in school organized to do a cleanup, and there is a “victory hug” between Winks & Mango celebrating the beautiful improvement. And there is a beautiful illustration of a smiling Tina Turtle swimming under water, with the sunlight above and the colorful coral below. She has such a pretty face in that illustration, it is one which could be framed and put on the wall of a child’s room.
Who Wants to Be a Litterbug, sarcastic in its title, shows children how important it is not to be a litterbug. It is a good lesson to teach any and every age child, as well as the adults who may be reading this to their youngsters. As we all know animals have rights to a clean environment, we need to be vigilant keepers of a clean Earth for everyone’s sake. Having children reading Goldsmith’s story over and over teaches the best lesson of being good stewards of our environment.
