Clutterbugs by Maura Pierlot, illustrated by Maya Bora

Title: Clutterbugs

Author: Maura Pierlot, illustrated by Maya Bora

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Big Ideas Press

Published:  1^st April 2025

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 32

Price: $26.99

Synopsis:

Join the quirky clutterbugs on a zany adventure that inspires responsibility, environmental awareness and creativity, while exploring the true meaning of friendship and gift-giving. When Steff can’t find Jay’ s birthday present in her very messy room, strange creatures called clutterbugs come to the rescue, helping her discover the most meaningful gift of all. THEMES: Waste reduction, recycling, repurposing, sustainability, environmental awareness, personal responsibility, friendship and gift-giving.

Unique, high concept adventure

Empowers children to be changemakers

Timely environmental and personal responsibility themes

Important throughline of reducing wastage

A nuanced look at creating versus consuming

Aligned with Australian Curriculum

Fun and engaging characters, story, rhyme

~*~

Steff’s room is a mess. Usually, she can find what she wants when she needs it. Except for today. It’s Jay’s birthday party, and she is frantically looking for his present. Even after sorting the clutter out and working out what she is going to get rid of or recycle, the present is nowhere to be found. So, the clutterbugs pitch in and help her find a solution that will please everyone, and help Steff learn about keeping her room tidy. Or at least, tidier.

Clutterbugs is a fun way to show kids how a tidy, organised room is good and gives them strategies to use so they can work out how to keep their room tidy, when to throw things out, and what to keep, whilst also highlighting the role of stuff in our life. In today’s world, it feels like repurposing, recycling, and living sustainably is a big topic, and there are many ways we can all try to do what we can to reduce what we use. I think it is important to realise that not everyone can do this in the same way, but Steff’s story shows us how people can start in their own way, and in a way that makes sense for them and their lives.

It also celebrates creativity and creation, as well as efforts to reduce waste, and teaching children’s what it means to be responsible for the important things in their lives, but does so in an age-appropriate way, and also allows people to work out how doing what Steff does can work for them. It uses fun rhyme to tell the story, so it doesn’t feel didactic, and shows how you could turn tidying into a game or teach children about taking one area of their room, or one area of the house at a time. Because tidying, decluttering, and maintaining this, as well as working on recycling and repurposing can take time to do or take time to work a process out. It’s a patient book as well that reassures readers that sometimes, even when we have tidied things out, they can still get messy – because life is messy and it’s okay when we get overwhelmed. I think it also shows that we can be messy inside, but the outside can be tidy, and people always have the best intentions when it comes to reducing waste, which is an ongoing journey that everyone is trying to do whatever they can for.

Books like Clutterbugs are fun and colourful, and filled with empowering messages for children who want to make change but don’t know how. Creating is a key element in this book – highlighting what might make us need to be creative in a moment, and how meaningful this can be to the people around us. It’s a fun book that has a solid message we can use in our lives, and in ways that work for us.