Toy Mountain

Stef Gemmill

Katharine Hall

EK Books, 2021

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9781925820966

Sam is getting bored with playing with the same toys every day – toys that had been played with by his Grandma and while sturdy and reliable, they didn’t have the whizbangery of the toys made in the Tiny Hands toy factory towering over the town, high in the clouds at the end of the rainbow.

So when his mum arranges for him to become a toy tester for the factory he is very excited and day after day boxes and boxes of toys arrive at his house for him to play with and give his opinion about. He immediately discards his old favourites for the new ones but are they all that they are cracked up to be?  Why do all the bells and whistles quickly turn to a sad plonk, plonk, plonk as the toys break and become an ever-increasing mountain of broken plastic junk?

While being a toy-tester might seem like the dream, this is an important story to share about appreciating what we have and taking care of it because shiny and new isn’t always the best choice. There is also a broader message about the amount of plastic that is produced each year, the 79% of that which ends up in the oceans or in landfill. and thus, being aware of and responsible for the amount of waste we create as individuals.

So while children marched in protest at COP26, here, in one story especially written for the young is a direct way that they themselves can make a difference and show the way for others around them.