Glamorous garbage

Bobbie and her cousin Joanie are best friends, even if Bobbie's cluttered bedroom and hoarding tendencies are putting a strain on their relationship. Bobbie's mother has had it, too, and she gives her a two-week deadline to get things cleaned up, or else Mom will clean things out herself. Bobbie has an idea for her room, and she resourcefully fulfills her vision with used objects, but that gets in the way of her downsizing plan. Desperate, she turns to Mom for help. Together they sort, repair, recycle, and remove, resulting in a navigable, glamorous big-kid bedroom perfect for entertaining Joanie. Bright, cheerful illustrations capture the clutter, and the breezy tone gently and efficiently delivers a stylish message: reduce, reuse, redecorate. Young readers should easily get the message about the benefits of repurposing. Pair this with Steven Kroll's Stuff! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (2009) or Anna Alter's What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe? (2009) to get kids on board with taking better care of the environment.--McBroom, Kathleen Copyright 2015 Booklist

K-Gr 2-Bobbie is one of those kids who feel cozy in her room filled with clutter, but her mom has given her an ultimatum: "`I'll give you two weeks to decide what stays and what goes. After that, I get to decide.'" At first the child is enthusiastic; perhaps this is a chance to convert her "little-kid room" into a more sophisticated "Garden Party Room." But in the subsequent days, she makes no progress in eliminating any of her possessions. Instead, she begins to acquire even more stuff when she discovers other people's enticing castaways. One day her cousin Joanie loses a toy in the messy room, and when she abruptly leaves in anger, the necessity of a full scale clean-up project becomes clear to Bobbie. But how can a pack rat even begin such an overwhelming task? Fortunately her mom has a plan. Newman captures the little girl's spunk in the text and the playful illustrations and provides a wonderful solution for children who cannot part with things and those who are just plain sloppy. VERDICT This sweet story addresses a source of battles for many families.-Gloria Koster, West School, New Canaan, CT (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

When Mom declares it's time to clean up her extremely cluttered bedroom, pack rat Bobbie decides she needs to create a "big-kid room." With Mom's help, she reduces, reuses, and repurposes her accumulated stuff, and decorates her room in a style all her own. Captured in detailed mixed-media illustrations, young collectors and DIYers will appreciate how Bobbie creatively transforms her "garbage. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Can collecting other people's castoffs really help Bobbie transform her cluttered room, or will it just makes things messier?Joanie, Bobbie's cousin, doesn't see how Bobbie can live amid the mess, and Bobbie's mother agrees, setting a two-week deadline for the cleanup. Bobbie has no problem coming up with a poster of ideas for a glamorous big-kid bedroom, but the family budget's empty. What's a girl to do? Reuse other people's junk, collected from yard sales and the Swap Shed at the town dump, of course. But with just a few days left and a room more cluttered than ever, Bobbie has to admit to her mother that she needs help making a start. For several days they work to weed out, clean up and then remake all the things Bobbie brought home, putting them back together in new ways to create furnishings that match her personality. While the text can be a bit wooden at times, Newman's mixed-media illustrations are bright with crisp details, which can make Bobbie's messy room seem especially overwhelmingand her new room seem all the more "glamorous." And there are some good ideas here for kids who need help sorting items into keep-it, fix-it-up and time-to-go piles. The story is likely to spark ideas for kids longing for room overhauls of their own. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Bobbie and her cousin Joanie are best friends, even if Bobbie's cluttered bedroom and hoarding tendencies are putting a strain on their relationship. Bobbie's mother has had it, too, and she gives her a two-week deadline to get things cleaned up, or else Mom will clean things out herself. Bobbie has an idea for her room, and she resourcefully fulfills her vision with used objects, but that gets in the way of her downsizing plan. Desperate, she turns to Mom for help. Together they sort, repair, recycle, and remove, resulting in a navigable, glamorous big-kid bedroom perfect for entertaining Joanie. Bright, cheerful illustrations capture the clutter, and the breezy tone gently and efficiently delivers a stylish message: reduce, reuse, redecorate. Young readers should easily get the message about the benefits of repurposing. Pair this with Steven Kroll's Stuff! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (2009) or Anna Alter's What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe? (2009) to get kids on board with taking better care of the environment. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

K-Gr 2—Bobbie is one of those kids who feel cozy in her room filled with clutter, but her mom has given her an ultimatum: "'I'll give you two weeks to decide what stays and what goes. After that, I get to decide.'" At first the child is enthusiastic; perhaps this is a chance to convert her "little-kid room" into a more sophisticated "Garden Party Room." But in the subsequent days, she makes no progress in eliminating any of her possessions. Instead, she begins to acquire even more stuff when she discovers other people's enticing castaways. One day her cousin Joanie loses a toy in the messy room, and when she abruptly leaves in anger, the necessity of a full scale clean-up project becomes clear to Bobbie. But how can a pack rat even begin such an overwhelming task? Fortunately her mom has a plan. Newman captures the little girl's spunk in the text and the playful illustrations and provides a wonderful solution for children who cannot part with things and those who are just plain sloppy. VERDICT This sweet story addresses a source of battles for many families.—Gloria Koster, West School, New Canaan, CT