• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7
• Reading age: 9 to 12

Humans have always generated garbage, whether it’s a chewed-on bone or a broken cell phone.

Our landfills are overflowing, but with some creative thinking, stuff we once threw away can become a collection of valuable resources just waiting to be harvested. Trash Talk digs deep into the history of garbage, from Minoan trash pits to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and uncovers some of the many innovative ways people all over the world are dealing with waste.

 

Michelle is the author of several books for children, and she enjoys telling the stories of kids who seize life's opportunities. When growing up in Port Moody, British Columbia, her favourite spot was the library. She loved cracking open the cover of a novel, taking a deep breath, and jumping into another life.

At university, Michelle studied literature, and between courses, she helped dig a water pipeline in the Dominican Republic and flipped burgers for a summer at a McDonald's in Germany. After graduating, she cycled 6000 kilometres across Canada, became a travel writer, taught creative writing in the Arctic, and worked as a simulated patient for medical students to practice on. She also married the pen pal that she'd been writing to since she was fourteen years old, and together they traveled around his home country of Argentina.

Michelle began writing for kids because she's always loved reading children's books. These days, when she's not writing or going on adventures, she enjoys reading, swimming, baking, hiking, and pedaling her bicycle around Victoria, British Columbia, where she lives with her husband and daughter. For more information about Michelle and her books, please visit her website at www.michellemulder.com.

 

Michelle Mulder's profile page

• Short-listed, Red Cedar Information Book
• Short-listed, CLA Book of the Year for Children Award nominee
• Short-listed, Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award nominee
• Short-listed, Blue Spruce Award nominee
• Short-listed, AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books finalist
• Commended, Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award - Young Adult Notable Book

"There is a nice balance of text and vibrant photos; content is a blend of scientific fact with historical and anecdotal vignettes so that adolescents can relate to the issues while contributing to a solution. Mulder presents an array of solutions, along with several examples of innovative projects demonstrating recycling, reusing, and composting. Due to the relevancy of the topic and clear message to modern teens and pre-teens, this is a valuable purchase for most youth collections."

School Library Connection

"[An] important title on how to value our environment."

Coombs Report Summer Reading List for Kids

"Both a history of trash and a manual of its elimination (or diminution, at least), this nifty book covers a variety of topics...Employing readable language, Mulder chronicles the development of garbage disposal and goes on to castigate our throw-it-away-and-buy-a-new-one way of thinking...Colorful photos record garbage issues around the world and innovative solutions to cope with this mountainous problem...An informative call to action for young greenies."

School Library Journal

"The text is written in a conversational style which will appeal to readers. 'Trash Facts' provide additional trivia while colour photographs, perfectly suited to the text, add to the reader’s understanding of the concepts presented...An interesting, thought-provoking book that might inspire some readers to spark some environmental initiatives of their own. Highly Recommended."

CM Magazine

"Mulder tells the garbage story in clean and engrossing prose, complemented by stock artwork and photographs...Mulder provides all sorts of alternatives to incineration, landfills and ocean dumping...Enclosed in these pages is plenty of food for thought and examples for direct action."

Kirkus Reviews

"I look forward with great anticipation to each new Orca Footprints [title]. They have been beautifully designed, well researched and blessed with terrific writing. This one is no exception...[Mulder] includes personal observations and anecdotes from her travels and from her life in Victoria today to make us cognizant of simple solutions to some of the ways in which we dispose of unwanted and unneeded objects. The 'Trash Facts' are interesting and inspiring. A wealth of impressive color photos, a table of contents, an index and a list of additional books, movies and websites add to the appeal and to the value."

Sal's Fiction Addiction blog

"Although the problem is huge, the author writes in a positive and upbeat style and encourages readers to be creative in thinking of solutions. The book is illustrated with many, high quality, colour photographs. There are references to other current resources, including movies and websites, for further study."

Resource Links

"Mulder focuses not only on reducing consumption but also on how we can recoup some of the energy and resources that are thrown away. Ingenious ideas like insulating homes with jeans or weaving old fishing nets into carpeting are just a couple ideas that will spark readers’ imaginations. With full-color photos of kids in action and startling but fascinating trivia about how much trash the world’s population produces, this offers a very compelling argument for conservation."

Booklist