Book: One Kid’s Trash (2021)
Author: Jamie Sumner
Genre: MG, Contemporary
Opening lines from the book …
The beautiful and terrible thing about having your bedroom in the basement is that you never know what time it is.
WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THIS BOOK…
1) Hugo’s the new kid in town. And it’s nice that he has a cousin to help him navigate the new school. I liked their relationship. And I like how it’s treated throughout the book. It’s not all smooth sailing.
2) This is a story that talks about garbology. Who knew there was such a thing. Anyhow, it turns out that Hugo, the MC, can look at people’s garbage and make some pretty good educated guesses about that person. It turns Hugo from a nobody into one of the more popular kids in school!
3) I liked the newsletter (i.e. student newspaper) angle. Hugo and Vij join a bunch of other kids to create the school news. Em, the student leading the charge, is pretty dedicated. And she gets frustrated with her team of not-quite-as-enthusiastic student contributors, including Hugo! Of course, you know this’ll play into the plot.
4) Then there’s the bully, Chance. He gives Hugo a hard time. I like how Hugo decides to retaliate, but that it turns out not to be the smartest move on his part. There are consequences to becoming a bully, yourself.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I enjoyed this book about a new kid finding his strength in garbology. It’s certainly not something I’ve ever read before!
YOUR TURN…
Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
Note: I’m posting this for Greg Pattridge’s Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday…
Of Maria Antonia 
Sounds an original take and a fun book 🙂
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It is!
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This sounds unique with the garbalogy. I didn’t know it existed. Thanks for featuring this book this week.
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It’s a fun book 🙂
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What a unique book. Haven’t read a story about garbology — and better yet, a kid can read people’s garbage like tea leaves. So clever! Will seek this one out. Sounds entertaining!
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It was kind of fun to read about. Not sure I want to do it myself!
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I haven’t read this one either. It must have slipped past me last year unnoticed. The unique plot and main character you described convinced me to head out a find a copy. Thanks for featuring your review on MMGM.
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Yeah, this is a good one 🙂
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I confess–I had no idea there was such a thing as garbology, either! What a fun concept to show up in a MG book! Seems right up there alley. Anyway, I know I would have loved it…and still probly will. 😀
Thanks for the heads up and happy MMGM!
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I didn’t know anything about it either! 🙂
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I always like a book with a student newspaper in it. This one sounds like it has a lot of interesting and fun things going on. And the bully getting bullied sounds like an excellent thread. Thanks for telling me about this book. I will try to check it out.
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Hope you like it!
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Sounds like a good book–one that kids might even learn from (w/o realizing it!)
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