ILLUSTRATOR: Ambelin Kwaymullina
AUTHOR: Sally Morgan
PUBLISHER: Magabala Books
On a sunny day out, Benny Bungarra discovers 3 of his friend in perilous danger, created by rubbish left behind by humans. After rescuing his friends Benny takes action to prevent these situations from happening again. Together the make a decision to ask the humans to dispose of their rubbish responsibly, they come up with ideas for repurposing the rubbish they find, and they work together to have a 'big bush clean-up of their own habitat.
REVIEW
I believe, the most important things we can do when it comes to sustainability education, is to foster empathy and respect. ‘Benny Bungarra’s Big Bush Clean-Up’, offers ample opportunities for further discussion on feeling and respect for our environment. The story gives the reader ideas for repurposing, and shows the characters taking local action and working as a community. Lots of sustainability education points ticked here.
“Benny Bungarra’s Big Bush Clean-Up is suitable for quite young children upwards.
ACTIVITY
An interesting activity might be to create a role-play habitat with animals and some waste harmful to these animals (but not harmful for the children of course!) Observe how the children interact with the props before and after the story. It is likely that some might ‘kill off’ some of the toy animals. See this is a useful observation and a great opening for a gentle discussion on feelings.
DISCUSSION
To follow on from the book you might encourage the children to:
consider that wildlife, including insects, who also live-in/visit in the same environment they do. Is there anything (rubbish or otherwise) that might harm them? How can we improve this for them?
have a team clean-up of their own environment.
identify things in the waste that could be re-used.
think about the waste in the book (bottle, fishing line, glass) and wonder how it might have been left in there. How could this have been prevented?
consider what might have happened to the animals if they had not been helped? N.B. Use your discretion and knowledge of your children - this might be too upsetting for some.
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