Pacific Book Review

Trash is all around us; it’s alongside the roads, in the parks, under water in the streams
and creeks, and by the ocean. It seems wherever one goes, items such as plastic
bottles, paper wrappers, thrown-away food, plus other debris litters our environment. It
is such a common sight that most people ignore it, and even worse, contribute to adding
to the trash problem.

In author Melinda M. Fons’ illustrated children’s book titled, Pickup Pals, readers are
introduced to Stella, a good little girl with something which is brought out in the story –
social consciousness and awareness of the trash causing hardships to nature and its
inhabitants. Stella goes with her class on a field trip to a Nature Park, where the ranger
actually shows the class an owl in a cage. The bird was put into the cage for its own
protection, as it was rescued while eating food particles stuck to plastic containers and
some of the plastic was ingested. The veterinary team even had to use a stomach
pump device to remove the plastic! The park ranger explained to the class there are
two categories of trash – biodegradable and recyclable, and provided examples of each.
The field trip concluded with Stella witnessing classmates throwing things out of the bus
window, and once arriving back at the school, she noticed lots of trash carelessly tossed
all over the grass. So being socially active, Stella organized a group of friends to go
around and pick up items – placing them in the appropriate trash container for
biodegradable or recyclables.

Melinda M. Fons does an excellent job combining text, narration, and illustrations – all
coming together to create a powerful theme and a memorable storyline. Stella is a
youngster which all good-intentioned youngsters can identify with, and the goal of
cleaning up litter provides an activity which achieves a goal for the group of kids, which
Stella calls her “Pickup Pals.”

The story ends with a sense of having readers think about starting their own “Pickup
Pals” group, and go around their neighborhood cleaning up litter. Melinda M. Fons has
a list of follow-up discussion questions which can be used for a school or family group to
begin discussions, or just having the reader think about how they can do something
good for their community. Pickup Pals is one book which families should pick up.

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