How often do your children convince you that they need the latest toy?
How often do they ‘need’ to collect the whole set of some plastic thing because – they have to?
And how often do you succumb to consumerism and buy that thing that you know won’t last long or do much?
Well, this is the book for you!
The all new must have ORANGE 430 by Michael Speechley is a very poignant book for today’s world where consumerism reigns and common sense has faded.
We search for the latest and greatest but then quickly forget about it when something newer and shiner comes along.
Harvey is a young boy who needs to have The all new must have ORANGE 430 so he saves as much money as he can and buys it! But it isn’t what he thought it would be – it does nothing, takes up space and is completely useless. Harvey tries to take it back to the shop but they won’t take it and even the manufacturer won’t have it – he just tries to convince him to buy another cheap toy to replace it.
But as Harvey waits in line to talk to the manufacture of The all new must have ORANGE 430 he meets many other children who are also dissatisfied with their toy and together they realise how much more fun the boxes the toys came in are!
The message this book gives us is simple – we don’t need all the stuff we have because we have it all in our minds – creativity, imagination, problem solving.
And if we really want to save the one big thing that matters most – our planet – then we need to start resisting the big manufacturers who seem to trick us so often.
The all new must have ORANGE 430 by Michael Speechley is fantastic and a must read for all children and their parents. It will start some big discussions and make you think about what you purchase in the future.
BUY NOW:
So what else can you do with this book?
FIRST THINGS FIRST:
– Grab a box and play with it– find out all the amazing things you can do with one! Keep your toilet rolls, old paper etc and create different things instead of buying new toys.
THINK
– Take a look around your place and work out the things that you need and what you just wanted.
– Which toys give you the most joy and why? Which activities give you the most joy?
– Wonder where all the broken toys go and look at this artist and what he did to show us how wasteful we are. Jurassic Plastic.
– Could we live in a world without plastic toys? How would your life be different? (Explore ads on tv, the state of your room, money saved, less fights, more creativity)
– How do ads convince you that you need to collect the latest toys? Explore the price of many of these toys and what they do once you buy them.
– Challenge your family to create less waste by not buying things they don’t really need, eating more fruit and vegetables to save on packaging and spending time outside or in a world of imagination and creativity instead of with plastic toys.
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