Review + Teachers’ Notes: ‘The All New Must Have Orange 430’

Megan Daley|September 3, 2019

Home » Review + Teachers’ Notes: ‘The All New Must Have Orange 430’

Title: ‘The All New Must Have Orange 430’
Author/Illustrator: Michael Speechley
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
Awards: Honour Book in the Picture Book of the Year at the 2019 CBCA Awards
Age Range: middle primary, upper primary.
Themes: consumerism, waste, upcycling, environment, big corporations, money, credit cards, spending habits, financial literacy.

Click on title links to purchase.

Mel Kroeger and I have been having a ball running workshops in schools across Brisbane based on ‘The All New Must Have Orange 430’ for the last few weeks as part of our Book Week workshop offerings. One school who has booked us for the last four years now also give each of their students a copy of the book based on whatever workshops we are conducting – hence me having 200 copies of ‘The All New Must Have Orange 430’ delivered to my front deck…ChickPea: “ALL those boxes have the same book in them?! ALL OF THEM?!”. I love that for Book Week this particular school gifts a really good quality book to their students – they budget for it and prioritise this.

Harvey owned a heap of stuff, but could always use more. The Orange 430 was the latest and the greatest. Harvey wasn’t sure what it did, but he had to have it!

A cheeky picture book for anyone who’s bought a thingy or whatsit . . . and doesn’t quite know why. In his debut picture book, Michael Speechley explores our obsession with stuff in a fun and edifying way.

My niece dressed as ‘the box’ from Orange 430 (with image credits on the back!).

‘The All New Must Have Orange 430’ is such a clever, clever book and one that requires multiple readings in order to deeply comprehend and internalise the messages and appreciate the sophisticated visual literacy elements in the illustrations. This is a book that young readers can, will and should return to over many years, as it’s themes of consumerism and ‘making do with less’ are universal, topical and ever-present. Our notes and discussion ideas from our Book Week 2019 workshops are below.

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Teachers’ Notes prepared by teacher Melissa Kroeger for Children’s Books Daily in context with the Australian Curriculum.

Title: ‘The All New Must Have Orange 430’
Author/Illustrator: Michael Speechley

‘Harvey owned a heap of stuff, but could always use more. The ORANGE 430 was the latest and the greatest. Harvey wasn’t sure what it did, but he had to have it!’

‘The All New Must Have Orange 430’ tells the story of a young boy the name of Harvey who is well and truly persuaded and deluded by advertising giants that he NEEDS the Orange 430. With loose change scrounged from under the couch Harvey finds himself with enough money to buy the Must Have object. When Harvey discovers that the Orange 430 really does nothing, he embarks on a journey that explores our obsession with stuff in a fun and edifying way.

About the Author: Michael is a high school art and design teacher from WA. He’s keen to explore themes of consumerism and the environment in his stories in a funny and accessible way. ‘The All New Must Have Orange 430’ is his first picture book and earned an Honours Award for Picture Book of the Year for the CBCA 2019 Book of the Year Awards. His second book is called ‘The Gift’ and you can read more about it here.

DISCUSSION/STIMULUS:

What did you like best about this book?
What was the strongest message you got from this book?
Why do you think this message is so important? Explain.
Why do you think Harvey needed to purchase the Orange 430?
Look closely at the first double pages of the book. What do you notice? What message is being portrayed?
Advertising can be very persuasive and often slogans can be embedded in our memory without us even realising. Finish the following and state who the company is that is advertising:
- ‘The Burgers are better at…’
- ‘I’m lovin’…’
- ‘Finger licking…’
- ‘Low prices…’
- ‘Iron man food’
- ‘Just like a chocolate milkshake…’
- What other ones do you know of?
If you could write an alternative ending to the book, what would it be?
If there was to be a second book to follow on from ‘The All New Must Have Orange 430’ what would it be about?

Image Credit: Booktopia

CURRICULUM-LINKED ACTIVITIES

ENGLISH
Content Descriptions:

Year 3 ACELT1596 Draw connections between personal experiences and the worlds of texts, and share responses with others
Year 4 ACELT1603 Discuss literary experiences with others, sharing responses and expressing a point of view
Year 5 ACELT1609 Present a point of view about particular literary texts using appropriate metalanguage and reflecting on the viewpoints of others

Activity:

Discuss in groups or as a class
- Are you or anyone you know of persuaded by advertising to purchase products?
- What product was it and why did you/they need to have it?
- What type of advertising swayed you/them?
- What strategies did the advertisers use? What language?
- How does your or a classmate’s personal experience with persuasive advertising compare with Harvey’s? Compare and contrast.

ENGLISH
Content Descriptions:

Year 3 ACELT1599 Discuss how language is used to describe the settings in texts, and explore how the settings shape the events and influence the mood of the narrative
Year 4 ACELT1605 Discuss how authors and illustrators make stories exciting, moving and absorbing and hold readers’ interest by using various techniques, for example character development and plot tension.
Year 5 ACELT1610 Recognise that ideas in literary texts can be conveyed from different viewpoints, which can lead to different kinds of interpretations and responses

Activity:

Michael Speechley has used sepia and a few pops of colour in the illustrations throughout the book. Discuss in groups or as a class –

- Why do you think he has done this?
- Does the use of very little colour help or hinder the story? Why?
- Compare the expressions on Harvey’s face from when he buys the Orange 430, to when he discovers it does nothing. What has Speechley done to change Harvey’s mood?
- How does the body language of the children change with the development of the book?
- Look at the busyness on the pages with the detail that has been drawn into each illustration. Why do you think this has been drawn like this? Have you found more detail in each page the closer you look at it?
Discuss how Harvey’s character develops throughout the story from beginning, middle and end.
Discuss the use of persuasive language throughout.

ENGLISH
Content Descriptions:

Year 3 ACELY1678 Identify the audience and purpose of imaginative, informative and persuasive texts
Year 3 ACELY1682 Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features and selecting print and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose
Year 4 ACELY1690 Identify characteristic features used in imaginative, informative and persuasive texts to meet the purpose of the text
Year 4 ACELY1694 Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts containing key information and supporting details for a widening range of audiences, demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features
Year 5 ACELY1701 Identify and explain characteristic text structures and language features used in imaginative, informative and persuasive texts to meet the purpose of the text
Year 5 ACELY1704 Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose and audience
Year 6 ACELA1518 Understand how authors often innovate on text structures and play with language features to achieve particular aesthetic, humorous and persuasive purposes and effects
Year 6 ACELY1714 Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, choosing and experimenting with text structures, language features, images and digital resources appropriate to purpose and audience

Activity:

Design a ‘Persuasive Poster/Brochure’ about the next new thing for kids! It must be aesthetically pleasing and must persuade your audience.
- Think about who your audience is and what will appeal to that age group
- Use high modality vocabulary eg: must, now, need
- What persuasive techniques and device will you use – colour, font size, cost etc
- How will you produce it? Digitally or using pencil and paper?

SCIENCE
Content Descriptions:

Year 3 ACSHE051 Science knowledge helps people to understand the effect of their actions
Year 4 ACSHE062 Science knowledge helps people to understand the effect of their actions
Year 5 ACSHE083 Scientific knowledge is used to solve problems and inform personal and community decisions

Activity:

Discuss materials that are used in our everyday lives. Are they recyclable? Are they not?
Choose some students to display their lunchboxes – what is inside? Plastic wrap? Throw-away containers? Re-usable containers?
What environmental impact does the use of these non-recyclable materials have? Using an online research platform, find out more and report back to the class.
Where does the rubbish we put in the bin really go? Using an online research platform, find out more and report back to the class.
Discuss how you can make some changes with some aspects in your life such as your lunchbox that could help the environmental impact.
How can you inform your school community? Make posters? Talk to other classes to educate them?
Talk to your Teacher and Principal about how the school can do more to help out environmental footprint – worm farm, compost, recycling, educating others.

VISUAL ARTS
Content Descriptions:

Year 3 and 4: ACAVAM112 Present artworks and describe how they have used visual conventions to represent their ideas
Year 5: ACAVAM116 Plan the display of artworks to enhance their meaning for an audience

Activity: