Customer Reviews

The Dumpster Diver

5 star:		(3)
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Inspired by Kerry Wade, an artist who takes old skis and turns them into chairs, Janet S. Wong crafted this colorful (thanks to illustrator David Roberts) story about Steve the electrician, also known as The Dumpster Diver. Every month, Steven dons his special dumpster diving suit, dives right in to the big trash bin, and counts on three young friends to assist him: one turns on the faucet, another keeps the hose from getting tangled up, and the other aims the nozzle at all of the nasty bugs and spiders that evacuate the dumpster in the wake of Steve's invasion - and then at Steve once he emerges from the dumpster. They turn "junk" into all kinds of neat toys, gizmos, and furniture.

Lest you think otherwise, the book doesn't really encourage young children to follow in Steve's dumpster-diving footsteps. In fact, Steve ends up sustaining an injury from this little hobby of his. The real point of the story, I believe, is to pass along the idea that you can have fun by turning materials you might normally throw away or just have lying around the house somewhere into useful, fun things. In other words, one man's trash can be another man's treasure.

This is a fairly large and colorful little book that young children should really enjoy - probably little boys more than little girls. Parents would do well to talk to their children about the story, though, not only because it could lead to some fun adventures that the parents can share with the child but also because you really don't want to come home from a hard day's work to find little Johnny sitting there surrounded by a bunch of broken toys and other junk he's collected from the neighbors.

My daughter loved this book. She enjoyed how Steve turns trash into treasure. She laughed out loud at his silly creations. I like the fact that the book promotes recycling.

Her fifth birthday is coming up and I am have been asked to read her favorite book to her class at school for her birthday. I asked my daughter what her favorite book is and she picked The Dumpster Diver. Interestingly, we don't own this book, but we checked it out from the library about a year ago. She still remembers this book as her favorite!

This book ties into creative recycling/upcycling and is great for young designers and little engineers, but it could be given as a gift to adults who are Dumpster Divers, too, because the illustrations are sophisticated and witty. My favorite pages are the ones that show junk items transformed into treasures, such as an old blender becoming a lava lamp and an old lamp becoming a table base. Inspiring--makes me think of all kinds of projects for the junk around the house.