Product Review: Ronnie Raven Recycles [Hardcover] (Grades K-3)
Ronnie Raven Says, ‘Reduce your Waste. Reuse it – Don’t Throw it Away. Recycle and Save your World’.
Ronnie Raven Recycles is the second of my special two-part review on books by the mother and son team of K.I. and Haitham Al-ghani (who is Autistic). This book is connected to two important subjects that have awareness days in April worthy of a review; Earth Day on April 22 (since 1970) and Autism Awareness Day on April 2 (since 2007). As part of the awareness theme, Ronnie has a great section in the back of the book that talks about the importance of recycling as well as a section for children’s activities for additional learning for home or classroom use. As noted in my first review about the language, the Al-ghanis are from Bahrain and the books are written in United Kingdom-English for all the Americans reading this review (yes, crisps are chips, etc.).
Ronnie the young raven is encouraged by his parents that it is time for him to leave his comfy family nest to build a nest of his own. Ronnie, who is a somewhat pampered raven, wants a flashy nest and not one made out of dull sticks and has an idea with the help of Cedric Seagull to use shiny human trash as building materials. While his colorful nest soon becomes the envy of all the birds in Ronnie’s village of St. Richard’s-by-the-Sea, the humans are outraged by the birds’ sudden interest in ripping open trash bags for materials and litter being strewn all over the area. Ronnie then realizes that perhaps recycled cardboard and plastics are not the best materials for building a bird’s nest and he learns of the difference between inappropriate versus appropriate recycling after a damaging rain storm. This was a fun read with an informative story on waste and recycling and the illustrations by Haitham are engaging and bright. I was also able to use the British slang word ‘blighter’ while reading out loud, which made us all laugh. I found this to be another excellent book for children by the Al-ghanis and I wish them success in additional joint children’s books in the future. We will be reading them!
Ready to Write a Book? Do you have an interesting story (perhaps an awareness issue) to tell? Schiffer wants to hear it! This is my third Schiffer book review on my blog from the Pennsylvania publishing company’s catalog, the first being Olly the Oyster that dealt with our role in keeping our ecosystem clean. Check out their proposals section of their website if you can add to their collection of unique and informative books!
List Price: $16.99 (Currently, $16.88 through Amazon.com)
Momma's Bacon 
Hi again Momma!!
What a lovely review for our dear Ronnie. This story was inspired by a real life event. I was taking Haitham to college one morning, when a seagull flew overhead with a full packet of crisps in his beak. Haitham made a joke about him using it to build his nest and so the story took shape.
I must say, that you have a lovely way with words, have you thought about writing books for children yourself?
All the best,
Kay & Haitham Al-Ghani
Thanks again for such a wonderful comment, Kay. I loved hearing the back story of how Haitham’s joke started the concept of the book. Brilliant!
That is so kind of you to ask about my writing a book. For now, I will leave the writing to the experts; however, I’m not ruling it out in the future. I definitely have a few ideas floating around in my head and we will see if it ever comes out on paper.
High regards,
Momma’s Bacon