There is something rather touching about BOBBIE BIN’S BUSY DAY, a children’s story book by Rina Croft. In its insistence on the importance of the guy who takes out the trash, it has something worthwhile to say about the value of an honest day’s work (not to mention the way modern society functions).
The setting is Banana Island, and Bobbie Bin drives a noisy garbage truck. We see him going about his day: preparing for work, checking to see if his truck is in good condition, arriving at the hotel and the tourist beach where the trash he disposes of can be found, and so on. Two pages devoted to the recycling process help to underscore the necessity in today’s world for thoughtful disposal of refuse. Illustrations are in the form of a realistic cartoon style, with an emphasis on showing each aspect of Bobbie’s routine. We’re not quite in “not all heroes wear capes” territory, but Croft does emphasize Bobbie’s status as an “unsung hero.”
There are, nevertheless, a couple of surprising omissions. The first is that, for all its emphasis on recycling, there is no allusion to the separation of recyclable materials at the point of use by the consumer, which feels like an important aspect of the process for young readers to understand. Single-stream recycling is famously inefficient, and can lead to a greater proportion of materials making it to landfill due to contamination. Teaching children to put their recyclables in the correct bins when they are available would be a valuable lesson to include here.
The other omission is that Bobbie is depicted in isolation. He works alongside no crew, appears to live alone, and the workers and guests of the hotel are unseen. In fact, no one else is seen (or even alluded to) at any point in the story. The effect is to inadvertently reinforce one of the book’s central messages: Bobbie is indeed an unsung hero, as no one bar the narrator is shown to acknowledge what he does. But with its cheerful demeanor and wholesome message, BOBBIE BIN’S BUSY DAY still has much to offer in its depiction of what it means to do the dirty work.
Rina Croft's BOBBIE BIN'S BUSY DAY entertainingly teaches children the importance of collecting the trash and keeping the world around us clean.
~ Craig Jones for IndieReader