Bin Chicken Goes for Gold by Kate and Jol Temple, illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh

Title: Bin Chicken Goes for Gold

Author: Kate and Jol Temple, illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh

Genre: Humour

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st March 2025

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 24

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: With a wobbly dive and a gangly leap, here comes Bin Chicken in a feathery heap! ‘Shoo!’ say the kids as she flaps on her way. ‘Bin Chickens aren’t welcome at school sports day!’ Go Team Ibis! It’s sports carnival time and Ibis has teamed up with some friends. But they aren’t running to the finish line … they’re racing to lunch!

~*~

Bin Chicken is back – and this time, she’s off to the school sports day to see what the canteen and kids have to offer! But bin chicken and her cousins are there to see what food is available. But the kids and teachers keep trying to shoo the birds away – Bin Chicken doesn’t belong at school sports day -or does she?

The latest Bin Chicken book is another fun romp into Bin Chicken’s world, and this time at something familiar to everyone. School sports day, or the athletics carnival, which is sure to have lots of food from students and the canteen. Kate and Jol Temple have used funny rhymes to tell this story which make it engaging and relatable. The bin chicken books are always set around something familiar to children, but with the beloved Bin Chicken as the main character. Bin Chicken is now up to her sixth adventure – and they just seem to be getting better each time, with new things to discover. Like the little mouse that pops up on each page with the little speech bubbles to warn Bin Chicken, or how the kids chase Bin Chicken in the race for food. It’s funny and joyous, and a great reminder that we share the world with the ibis, or Bin Chicken.

Kate and Jol’s fabulously funny text is accompanied by Ronojoy Ghosh’s illustrations. Ronojoy has yet again captured the whimsical and entertaining world of Bin Chicken and her antics. But these stories do more than that. They highlight how the changes humans have made to the world have affected animals and their access to food and shelter. The books celebrate the ibis in a way, showing how it has adapted to its new environments and what they have to do to cope. Like the other books, this will simply be entertaining for some readers, and carry deeper meaning for other readers. Books like this that have multiple layers show that there are lots of different ways of looking at the world, and that picture books can be enjoyed by a wide range of readers. They can build reading confidence and teach readers about rhyme and visual literacy, and the interaction of words and images, and so many other things in this fabulous addition to the Bin Chicken series.