The Tindims of Rubbish Island and the Deep Sea Treasure – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Garbage Gobbler, treasure, diaries, community.
Children’s book title: The Tindims of Rubbish Island and the Deep Sea Treasure.
Children’s author: Sally Gardner.
Children’s illustrator: Lydia Corry.
Genre: Children’s fiction, eco adventure.
Published by: Zephyr.
ISBN: 9781804549315.
Recommended for children aged: 5-9 year-olds.
First published: Paperback April 2024.
This children’s book is ideal for: Children who care about the environment.
To see the latest price or order, click on the book cover image.
Our review:
Fans of the Tindims series will know they are a community of recyclers, ridding the world of rubbish and turning them into useful items. The Tindims are endearing, fictional little beings who live far removed from the ‘Long Legs’ (human adults) and the ‘Little Long Legs’ (human children). The Tindims have a motto which is:
“Rubbish today is treasure tomorrow.”
They work very hard creating and building things with all the rubbish they find in the ocean and on their island, “Rubbish Island”.
In this story, we meet Granny Gull who makes diaries for children Skittle and Brew; and Pinch (the dog).
They are beautifully hand made from paper fished out of the sea. However, they don’t know what to write inside their diaries as nothing exciting is happening. But one day this all changes when Rubbish Island collides with Stumbling Stone Island and gets stuck!
The Tindims go to Turtle Bay to see what has happened and suddenly out in the sea they spot a big monstrous fish with a thousand teeth and small shining eyes. One of the TINDIMS, Ethel B Dina, goes out into the ocean to see what it is and then she disappears under the water! But where has she gone?
As the book continues, we meet another set of TINDIMS from Stumbling Stone Island who seem to be long lost friends and family of the Timdims of Rubbish Island. We learn they ended up separating from Rubbish Island many years ago, when a storm broke out and part of the island broke away.
They all blamed bottle mountain for the disaster claiming it has got far too big for Captain Spoons to look around. The TINDIMS from Stumbling Stone Island reunite with friends and family and inform them of their super invention, the Garbage Gobbler that collects rubbish from the sea that they can weave into clothes! This was the monstrous fish with a thousand teeth and small shining eyes.
Later on in the story, on Stumbling Stone Island, Pinch the dog finds a pirate’s diary and the young TINDIMS work together to find the key and the missing treasure. At least they finally have something to write about in their diaries!
Will they find what they are seeking? What will happen to the two islands? Oh… and has anybody seen Ethel B Dina?
Our verdict:
A lovely story written with great imagination. The language and simple sentence structures mean that this book is very appropriate for the younger readers. It is easily accessible and written in dyslexia friendly font. I also enjoyed the way each chapter is summarised before it starts.
This book and the series in general have a good, subtle message of reusing recycling/rubbish to make other things and protecting the environment around you. It even has simple instructions at the end to help you make a recycled yoghurt pot cress head.
Teaching points and book club discussion ideas:
- Explore how this book tells us about the effect rubbish is having on the environment.
- Teaching diary writing, looking at the features and creating your own diary.
- Experimenting making useful objects using recycling.
- Discuss where and how the authors came up with the character names.
Many thanks to Zephyr for the review copy.
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If you like The Tindims of Rubbish Island and the Deep Sea Treasure by Sally Gardner you might also like: our reviews of Ultrawild by Steve Mushin, Storm Dragon by Dianne Hofmeyr and Carol Thompson and How to Teach Grown-Ups About Climate Change by Patricia Daniels.
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