Title: Bin Chicken Feeding Time at the Zoo

Author: Kate and Jol Temple, illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh

Genre: Humour

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st March 2024

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 24

Price: $18.99

Synopsis: Wading through bin juice, sticky with grime, Ibis’s tummy is rumbling … it’s nearly lunchtime! ‘Buzz off! Scram! Shoo! We don’t feed bin chickens here at the zoo!’ It’s feeding time at the zoo and no-one is sharing their lunch. Luckily, Ibis knows just how to steal some snacks … and the spotlight!

~*~

Bin Chicken is back – and this time, she’s at Taronga Zoo while everyone else is – and it is lunchtime! But nobody wants to share their lunch. Not the kids, not the teachers, not the animals, and certainly not the zookeepers! Poor Bin Chicken – they’re all just telling her to buzz off, scram and shoo!

But Bin Chicken, or Ibis, is lever – and she knows how to steal snacks and the spotlight.

The latest Bin Chicken book is set in the zoo, and she’s hungry again – so what’s new? Bin Chicken is always looking for food where she lives and this time, it’s the Zoo’s turn to be ravaged for anything edible. Kate and Jol Temple have created another fantastic Bin Chicken book, this time showing readers how Bin Chicken interacts with the animals at the zoo, and how clever the ibis is at finding food.

This book uses humour to educate through entertainment about the way white ibises, fondly called bin chickens have to forage for food, bringing the zoo and its animals to life, and showing readers how Bin Chicken sees the world and what it means for her. She’s cunning and clever, feisty and foraging as she explores the world in different places and finds out what she can do, and how she can feed herself in a world that is hostile to her presence. The fun rhymes and images give zest and life to the characters as it hints at deeper ecological and urbanisation themes. It’s a funny story for many, but also has layers that older readers may pick up on.

It is a book that can be enjoyed by many, with multiple understandings, and the rhyming can help build reading confidence and independence. I have been enjoying the bin chicken series, and it will be interesting to see what comes next.