A good story for parents to read to their children is short and simple.

Embark on a wild underwater adventure with Megan, Trent the Tough Tornado Tackling Turtle and a host of other sea creature characters, as they learn all about the dangers of plastic pollution and how important it is to look after our oceans, saving sea creatures suffering from littering and pollution along the way.

Thanks to the author and netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I thought this was an okay story. It is obviously a great topic, how littering is so bad for the environment, nature and sea life. I just felt that it didn't capture my attention enough. I love the magical realism aspect but the story just didn't keep my attention and I felt it was a bit longer than necessary. This is still a good option if talking about not littering and ways to help the earth.

A Rubbish Journey is a great educational book for young readers! We follow Megan who has a bad habit of littering. One day she gets mysteriously swept underwater to explore the ocean and make new sea friends. She learns much from their struggles with their polluted homes underwater. This book was a great read to educate children on the hazards of being careless with garbage and waste. It is educational and enjoyable with cute and whimsical animals. I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in trade for my honest opinion. My thoughts are my own.
YouTube Review: 06/12/24
YouTube Handle: KeenCat

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

"Why are you reading this story?" you might ask. I read it as part of a reading challenge "Read A Book About Animals" I thought about reading one of those biology books but this looked cuter. I thought the story was really cute and informational but I'm not sure why the author said the animals had specific accents. The turtle had an old English accent according to the book and I'm not sure why that was even relevant in the first place. The ending also left much to be desired as I felt it happened kind of fast but this is a kids novel after all.

Thank you so much to Cranthorpe Millner Publishers and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Megan and her family are having a fun day out, but Megan keeps littering and annoying her family. Then after her third piece of litter she is transported down into the ocean to see the damage she is causing.

I liked the lesson that this was teaching, sharing how each piece of litter can cause such tremendous damage to the animals all around. I like that Megan got a chance to see everything first hand and be able to mend her ways and help the animals.

I do wish the book had some illustrations, some of the scenes I would have loved to have seen for real with some beautiful illustrations. I think they would have really added to the story and to the message and lesson this story puts out there.

The book takes you on a fun adventure, meeting lots of different sea animals and birds, seeing how it effected them, and also the experience that they gave to Megan as she traveled on trying to get out the water. I think it has a good lesson, a cute adventure story and a protagonist who actually learns through her journey.

A Rubbish Journey is a children's fiction book that deals with the issue of polluting our big bodies of water - such as oceans and seas. It also shows how the animals living in the water are getting hurt.

It is a story mainly written for younger audiences but the magical aspect of showing how we treat oceans and the animals should speak to people of all ages.
I can't count how many times I've heard people - of all ages - say "It's just one bag" or "It's just one bottle" while in reality, it is never just "one thing" - it's thousands.

It's a great book to show kids how much what we do affects other amazing living creatures.

Megan & Trent the Tough Tornado Tackling Turtle dive into the importance of preserving nature and how littering/ plastic pollution creates such a negative impact on wildlife. This is a nice story with a really important message for young readers!

Time to share my weekly children’s book reviews. My kids get so excited to see what books I have to read before naps, bedtime, or at breakfast. There are some really cute ones to add to your children’s summer reading book lists!

Scooper and Dumper and the Pumpkin Parade by Lindsay Ward comes out July 8th. My three boys loved the trucks adventures with the pumpkins.

A Rubbish Journey by Jonah Rideout was a really cute chapter book my daughter loved. The story was fun, and entertaining. It comes out June 24.

Keep Trucking by Raven Howell was an adorable book. The illustrations were super cute and my boys again loved the truck story. It comes out May 10.

Ain’t It Funny by Margaret Gurevich was another fun chapter book about following your dreams. My daughter really enjoyed this one. It comes out October 14.

What Are They Feeling by the School of Life is one that is so sweet and great to explain emotions. The kids and I had some fun conversations to follow this one. It comes out September 11.

The Great Turkey Walk by Kathleen Kar is a wonderful story of friendship, and takes you back to 1860. It comes out October 7.

Hailma Superhero Princess by Emily Joof was adorable. The storyline and illustrations were very exciting for the kids. It comes out September 2.

The Sun Never Hurries by Roxane Turcotte was my favorite. Such a precious story and the illustrations were darling. It comes out June 24.

Make a Little Wave by Kerry O’Malley Cerra is a really exciting story! My daughter said this was her favorite. She loved the characters. It comes out September 30.

To Mimi’s House We Go by Susan Meissner was another of my favorite. The story, the pictures, the adventure it took you on was absolutely precious. A fun one for the holidays. Comes out Sept 9.

Leonardo Cohen by Maria Isabel Sanchez-Vegara was a cute story! My kids love to learn new things and these are always so full of knowledge to take away. It comes out August 5.

Fall Feast by Sean Taylor made our family very excited for playing in the leaves. It comes out August 5.

Diwali by Sital Gorasia Chapman was such a good one for kids to learn about another culture. It comes out August 5.

A lovely story about a young girl discovering more about nature, the environment, and the preservation of them.

The writing style and the plot may not be perfect from an adult reader’s experience but the book is encouraging in opening up discussions about the environment, what we can do to help protect it and is easy to follow from a young reader’s perspective.

Thank you NetGalley, Cranthorpe Millner Publishers, and Jonah Rideout for the early access copy of A Rubbish Journey.

A Rubbish Journey follows the story of a girl named Megan's journey of discovering the impact of plastic, pollution, and littering. After some time at the park with friends and loved ones where Megan openly littered multiple times, she is suddenly thrown into a sea adventure with a turtle named Trent.

During her time in the sea, Megan sees the direct impact of littering and how it has harmed the ocean and wildlife. This story will be an excellent tool to discuss human impact to the earth, pollution and plastic issues, and how one person can make a difference with the impact of littering. This will be well-suited as a class read-aloud with a discussion to following.

This is a well written and very engaging story about a young girl who learns the hard way just how damaging human disrespect for our planet in general, and the ocean in particular, can be.

Without being in the least preachy, the story takes us along for a wild ride (at one point, quite literally, on the back of a sea turtle!), as Megan discovers the real price of littering, and the impact it has on underwater life, including the coral reefs.

Megan also meets a number of interesting characters along the way - including a very special puffin and the aforementioned sea turtle - ending the story as a reformed litter bug.

The story is creative and likely to fire the imagination of young readers, and I especially liked the way that it got the message across without sounding judgemental or too didactic. Recommended for the target age group. It gets 3.5 stars.

Megan loves spending time with her grandad Jack and cousins Laura and Finley especially if they can go to the country park. When she drops litter for the third time  in a day she finds herself flung into the sea and able to breathe underwater! A turtle called Trent befriends her and begins showing her the damage being done to the ocean by the rubbish dumped rather than disposed of correctly in the bin.

As they travel together Megan and Trent see beautiful seascapes changed beyond recognition by awful pollution and sea creatures injured or driven from their natural habitats. After helping a whale, a puffin, and some hermit crabs Megan finally sees the error of her ways and vows to do better. She now knows how important it is.

This is Jonah Rideout's first book and unfortunately, for me, it was a bit hit and miss and clunky. Megan is a friendly and kind nine-year-old but didn't seem to have any idea about the causes and effects of pollution or littering which was surprising. There were a lot of comparisons used to explain the differing situations Megan found herself in but the examples, such as being squeezed by an anaconda, took away from the story rather than enhancing it. I'm all for encouraging research and there are plenty of opportunities to do this and there are interesting facts included throughout but overall it could be more relatable. Megan is a likeable, soon to be reformed, main protagonist and who wouldn't want to try to save a talking whale? For me, however, it missed the mark which is a shame.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Cranthorpe Millner Publishers, but the opinions expressed are my own. The fantasy aspects will draw younger children in but it didn't quite work for me.