Gifts from the Garbage Truck: A True Story About the Things We (Don't) Throw Away

by Andrew Larsen Narrated by Robb Moreira

Overview

WHAT IF ALL GARBAGE WASN'T GARBAGE? WHAT IF SOME OF IT WAS WORTH KEEPING?

Sometimes we throw things away when we no longer want or need them. But what if they're still good? A man named Nelson Molina wondered about this and did something about it. As a sanitation worker in New York City, Nelson saved more than forty-five thousand
items from his garbage truck, including toys, musical instruments, and thingamajigs. He gave them new life and shared them with others at the Treasures in the Trash Museum.

This is a true story about one man who saw the world differently and made things better because of it. It's about being curious and creative. It's about reusing and upcycling. It's a story we can all participate in when we think about the things we (don't) throw away.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"A reminder that we can discover beauty, joy, and worth from the materials right in front of us." — Horn Book magazine

"[A] fresh look at consuming less and reusing creatively." — Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review

"An unusual storybook written with a keen sense of what appeals to children and illustrated with a strong sense of form, line, color, and shadow, this beautiful picture book tells a story and makes certain points without becoming didactic." — Booklist, STARRED Review

"Informative and inspirational... will have readers rethinking the value of items that appear seemingly worthless. Highly recommended." — School Library Journal, STARRED Review

"A worthy takeaway about finding beauty in the most unlikely of places." — Kirkus Reviews

"Useful in showing children how they can repair items rather than immediately throwing them away when they become damaged." — Youth Services Book Review

Kirkus Reviews

2024-08-03
A tribute to a New York City sanitation worker who salvaged a museum’s worth of treasures from the trash.

Though actual glimpses of the thousands of antique toys, old family portraits, and other evocative artifacts that Nelson Molina gathered over the course of his long career are limited to a paltry few photos at the end, his message that our castoff junk is rich in things that can be usefully recycled or upcycled comes through strongly in this brief biographical account. Following an appeal from Molina himself to search for the beauty and value in everything, even garbage, Larsen looks back to his subject’s youth in East Harlem. The author links the pleasure that Molina took in building birdhouses from discarded bits of lumber and repairing a broken toy truck for his little brother to later years on the job—arranging reclaimed items first in a locker room and then expanding into larger quarters as the first few finds grew into thousands. Vidal’s tidy, pleasant scenes of Molina hauling trash and sifting through garbage are implausibly clean and uncrowded. Still, suggestions for personal ways to “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rethink” at the end invite readers to carry on the good work. Molina writes that his parents were from Puerto Rico; figures in group scenes are racially diverse.

Bags up a worthy takeaway about finding beauty in the most unlikely of places.(Picture-book biography. 6-8)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940192052419
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	09/17/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	Up to 4 Years

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