This book uses the medium of an interesting, colorful story to encourage children (and hopefully their parents) to think about ways that diverse items might be reused before they get to the recycle stage. (Reuse: Extend something's life by using it more than once. Recycle: Break down an item so it can be made into something else.
In the book, the children use their natural intelligence, ingenuity and sense of fun to develop a reuse program that is beneficial to many people in their community.
Reading this book brought back memories of reuse in my own family: Clothing in good condition was handed down to younger children in the family, or passed on to another family; tin cans were painted with leftover paint and used for flower pots or pencil holders; tall tin cans had long strings for handholds, put through holes in the cans and were fun "stilts" to walk around on; cereal boxes were used to make creative "villages."
I highly recommend this book for school or home libraries; it would be a good discussion starter for brainstorming ideas for reusing items. It is colorful, interesting and thought-provoking; and the pages are long-lasting, high quality paper.