Bin Chicken and the Christmas Turkey by Kate and Jol Temple, illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh

Title: Bin Chicken and the Christmas Turkey

Author: Kate and Jol Temple, illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh

Genre: Fiction. Christmas

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st October 2022

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 24

Price: $17.99

Synopsis: Bah humbug! The city is buzzing, shoppers run this way and that, there’s carols and lights and a Santa Claus hat! But if a bird is clever… if a bird is a smartie… a bird can still have a fabulous Christmas party!

Ibis is in a flap and can’t find any trash, but Bush Turkey knows exactly where to find a feast to gobble!

~*~

Christmas is coming, and most people enjoy it. Except for Ibis, otherwise known as Bin Chicken. Even with so much activity in the city because of the holidays coming up, Ibis still can’t find food for her and her babies. So, she sets off out of the city, where she meets Christmas Turkey, a bush turkey with the same goal as her. And he has a trick up his sleeve. But will Turkey’s advice be helpful, or will it land them both in lots of trouble?

The latest in the Bin Chicken series is a rollicking Christmas adventure that sees Bin Chicken eager for food, and disappointed there’s no rubbish for her to snack on because nobody is around. At the beach, she meets Bush Turkey – who shows her where to find food. Yet, as they begin their party, as is the case, something has to go wrong! Will Bin Chicken and Bush Turkey get their Christmas party?

The Bin Chicken series by Kate and Jol Temple is lots of fun, and celebrates one of Australia’s favourite birds, the White Ibis. Each book is set against the backdrop of urban Australia, showing the contrast between the natural world and life of the White Ibis, and the life these birds leave now, ferreting for food wherever they can. In each book, Kate and Jol look at a new challenge for Ibis, and in this one, we have a very unique, very Australian look at Christmas, which follows on from Bin Chicken Flies Again.

The popularity of the Bin Chicken books shows how much fun they are and the impact that they have had on reading and how people see the White Ibis, affectionately known as the Bin Chicken, the tip turkey, or the picnic pirate. These books are funny but also show readers how the human world has impacted the White Ibis and many other animals through how their living and eating habits have changed and adapted to the urban sprawl that we live in. I loved the rhyming text – it is humorous and when coupled with the pictures, sets the scene for Christmas holidays so well and in a way that so many Australians can relate to.

This is such a fun book, filled with colour and humour, laughs and rhymes, and a distinctly Australian Christmas flavour – something a little different from the usual Christmas stories that we read at this time of year, and I quite like the Australian-themed Christmas stories coming out. It’s nice to see the way Australians celebrate Christmas (for those who do) represented in the books that we read. Another great Bin Chicken book.