Maya in the Rubbish Sea by Lucy Munday
About the book:
Maya is a magical little girl, who loves swimming in the sea and spending time with her talking friend Finn, a parrot fish. Together, Maya and Finn seek out underwater adventures and help out their new pals along the way.
In 2015 I started working on a book about ocean pollution after having lived in Bali, in 2014, where the coast is badly polluted with waste that washes up on shores, wraps around your arms as you try to surf and drifts aimlessly before coming to rest on reefs.
Bali is such a beautiful place and it’s such a shame that there is so much rubbish around the area. Of course, that is the problem of being in an island archepelago with limited waste services.
Ocean pollution comes in many forms and it poses a threat to life in the sea and on land, including to humans. Of course this is quite heavy for a children’s story! So, how to make it engaging for young readers?
I wanted to write a story for children about this kind of issue, that wouldn’t just be the usual ‘don’t do this’ formula. I have various feelings about the way climate change and conservation is communicated, so I was conscious about trying to do things differently.
There is a lot of magic and adventure running through this book and some people may feel the story doesn’t offer enough reality. Again, I would say that there are a lot of books like that on the shelves. I want to encourage, inspire and empower children (and their parents) with exciting stories that allow the reader to ask questions and come to their own conclusions. After all, that is the point of fiction writing.
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