Junkyard

November 4, 2013
Two civic-minded robots dubbed the Munching Machines decide to turn their junkyard home, which is an all but in name a Superfund site, into a fabulous community garden and playground. Possessing figurative if not literal ironclad constitutions, they ingest everything within their impressive reach—not just “messy mounds of shopping carts,/ picture frames, and bicycles,” but also “truckloads of stinky fish oil,/ barrels of sticky paste,/ a swimming pool of goopy goo,/ and tubs of toxic waste!” They take a break only long enough to let rip a triumphant “BURP!” before turning the yard into “something new.” Austin’s (Monsters Love Colors) rhyming clomps along like a robot, but the listicle aspect of his text (“They pile dirt high/ to make mountains for hiking/ and a long winding trail/ for running and biking”) should prod readers to lean in and contemplate their own perfect playgrounds. While the two mechanical heroes have just one personality setting—eagerly happy—Austin’s digital illustrations are exuberantly jumbled and layered, making for a bright, colorful mess with an appropriately distressed texture reminiscent of block printing. Ages 4–8.

December 1, 2013
The title on the cover is a clue to the tale--"JUNK" is rendered in a rusty-colored scribbly style, while "YARD" is a light green with a grassy pattern--but the ultimate message is murky. A frowning sun looks down on a yard full of junk where there's not even enough room for a tree to take root. Austin's scribbly digital illustrations are visually busy, full of discarded junky objects that are half recognizable, the rest of the pile taken up with patterned shapes. Mice scramble through the junkyard while two giant Munching Machines take on the job of eating everything. "They crunch boxcars, jelly jars, / crooked airplane wings. / And five dirty dump trucks / filled with curly metal springs." Troublingly, though, they also slurp up tankers of oil and "tubs of toxic waste," magically getting rid of it. The clean white background slowly begins to dominate, the two robots sweeping the yard clean for something new: trees and flowers, a garden, a playground, a mountain, a lake. But the final illustration seems to incorporate some of the junk in the new play space. Did the robots reuse those items? Is this recycling at work? The message is that garbage is bad and needs to be cleaned up, but it also seems to suggest that this is simple and never mentions anything about reducing what one uses and throws away. While some kids will be fascinated with the robotic Munching Machines, the takeaway is unclear, and the represented ease of getting rid of garbage is certainly wrong. (Picture book. 4-8)

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January 1, 2014

K-Gr 2-Supersized robots made from spare parts are sad to find that the yard is such a mess: "Junk as far as the eye can see/not even room for one little tree." The Munching Machines go to work right away, chewing up everything from rusty school buses and broken bed frames to truckloads of stinky fish oil and tubs of toxic waste. Once the yard is swept clean, "They dig hundreds of holes/for hundreds of trees, /and sow hundreds of flowers/for hungry honeybees!," turning the once-disgusting landfill into a beautiful community playground with tire swings, a lake for boating and swimming, and a vegetable garden. Earthy colors dominate the digital illustrations when depicting the messy junkyard, turning to bright greens, blues, and reds when the garden is planted and the park is ready for outdoor fun. The simple sentences and rhyming text create a singsong read-aloud. Children will understand the message about the environment and enjoy these delightful robots.-Kristine M. Casper, Huntington Public Library, NY

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014
Preschool-G With a cover featuring a rusty automaton with smokestacks on his head and a bright green antennae-eared machine chowing down on cars, this will likely whip off library shelves and into the hands of young robot-loving readers. The gigantic but friendly robots plow through the junkyard, making a meal of everything from crooked airplane wings to five dirty dump trucks / filled with curly metal springs, until the place is spic-and-span. But then the job is only half done: the robots plant and dig and garden away until a spectacular playground has risen in the junkyard's place. Beyond the clever rhymes and bright, friendly colors of this ode to caring for the environment, the two smiling, gear-chested robots munching on every form of vehicle imaginable are the very stuff of little boys' dreams. Austin's (Monsters Love Colors, 2013) background in design is clear in the simple but sharply defined shapes full of personality and playfulness, perfect for inviting young readers into the yard for a smash-'em-up romp of a good time.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)