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Clutterbugs
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.
Join the fun in this action-packed tale about waste reduction, sustainability repurposing, responsibility and the true spirit of giving.
Join the fun in this action-packed tale about waste reduction, sustainability repurposing, responsibility and the true spirit of giving.
32 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2025
1 person want to read
About the author
Maura Pierlot
5 books223 followersMaura is an award-winning author, playwright and filmmaker based in Canberra, Australia. Her young adult work across art forms explores the complex intersection between identity, self and belonging. Tackling youth mental health themes, Maura’s acclaimed play, Fragments, is now an award-winning web series, feature-length anthology film and hybrid young adult novella.
Maura enjoys writing for children. Clutterbugs (Big Ideas Press, 2025) is a fun, zany adventure that showcases personal responsibility, sustainability and creativity. Alphabetter – A Better You and Me, from A to Z (Affirm Press, 2024), presents fun, relatable scenarios that encourage children to explore positive character traits and values. What Will You Make Today? (Storytorch Press, 2023) empowers young readers to make a difference in the world. Maura’s first book, the music-themed picture book, The Trouble in Tune Town, won the 2018 ACT Writing and Publishing Awards and several overseas honours.
Drawn at an early age to big ideas, Maura has a PhD in philosophy. She has worked as an ethicist, editor of Australian Medicine, medical writer/producer and business owner. Besides writing full-time, Maura visits schools and libraries as a guest reader and speaker. She is the founder of The Book Bench Project, a Canberra initiative that fosters a shared love of reading and sense of community. She is also a regular reviewer for the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s online magazine, Reading Time, and a Role Model and Sponsor for Books in Homes Australia and a qualified art therapist.
When she’s not busy thinking, dreaming and creating, Maura enjoys spending time with her family and animals at their avocado farm, a mountaintop property on the New South Wales south coast.
To find out more about Maura and her work, please visit https://maurapierlot.com and follow https://instagram.com/maurapierlot_au....
To find out more about The Book Bench Project please visit https://bigideaspress.com and follow https://instagram.com/thebookbenchpro....
To find out more about Fragments: Journeys from Isolation to Connection, please visit: https://fragmentsthefilm.com and follow https://instagram.com/fragmentsthefilm_.
To find out more about The Trouble in Tune Town, please visit: https://thetroubleintunetown.com.
Maura enjoys writing for children. Clutterbugs (Big Ideas Press, 2025) is a fun, zany adventure that showcases personal responsibility, sustainability and creativity. Alphabetter – A Better You and Me, from A to Z (Affirm Press, 2024), presents fun, relatable scenarios that encourage children to explore positive character traits and values. What Will You Make Today? (Storytorch Press, 2023) empowers young readers to make a difference in the world. Maura’s first book, the music-themed picture book, The Trouble in Tune Town, won the 2018 ACT Writing and Publishing Awards and several overseas honours.
Drawn at an early age to big ideas, Maura has a PhD in philosophy. She has worked as an ethicist, editor of Australian Medicine, medical writer/producer and business owner. Besides writing full-time, Maura visits schools and libraries as a guest reader and speaker. She is the founder of The Book Bench Project, a Canberra initiative that fosters a shared love of reading and sense of community. She is also a regular reviewer for the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s online magazine, Reading Time, and a Role Model and Sponsor for Books in Homes Australia and a qualified art therapist.
When she’s not busy thinking, dreaming and creating, Maura enjoys spending time with her family and animals at their avocado farm, a mountaintop property on the New South Wales south coast.
To find out more about Maura and her work, please visit https://maurapierlot.com and follow https://instagram.com/maurapierlot_au....
To find out more about The Book Bench Project please visit https://bigideaspress.com and follow https://instagram.com/thebookbenchpro....
To find out more about Fragments: Journeys from Isolation to Connection, please visit: https://fragmentsthefilm.com and follow https://instagram.com/fragmentsthefilm_.
To find out more about The Trouble in Tune Town, please visit: https://thetroubleintunetown.com.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 3, 2025
A neat tale of waste mindfulness wrapped in the gift of creativity, friendship and play, fashioned with whimsy, lively action and heart. This picture book is the gift that keeps on giving!
For readers and environmental warriors as young as four, Clutterbugs will transform perceptions on managing the common crisis of clutter pervading our daily lives. In Steff’s case, her room is so messy, she is literally unable to see the floor. And even worse, she has now lost the gift she bought for her friend Jay’s birthday. Enter these tiny, snuggly-looking blue creatures with a pile of wisdom, tonnes of energy, and loads of organisational skills that have Steff swiftly sweeping her mess into sorted groups with labels, ‘Keep’, ‘Toss’, and ‘Recycle’. Props to Steff for her efficiency (I wish I found decluttering so easy! Perhaps we all need some clutterbugs in our lives!), even though the missing toy rocket remains a mystery (or does it?!). This is where the next phase of the process comes in. With creativity and resourcefulness, Steff shows us how rewarding the art of repurposing can be, and opens our eyes to the ‘mountainous’ impact consumerism can have on our purchasing habits (did you see Steff’s room before she met the clutterbugs?!).
I love how playfully educational this story is without compromising on the art of what makes a great picture book. Maura Pierlot’s rhyme is tidy and fully engaging, whilst Maya Bora’s brightly coloured digital brushwork completely brings mess to life in the most exuberant way possible! Her inclusions of clutter detail, emotion and expression are incredible, not to mention the sneaky antics of Steff’s dog Pierre (watch out for that one!) and of course, those adorably unique and distinctively individual little clutterbugs!
With this book, we’ve discovered the most meaningful gift of all. Clutterbugs, a timely and lively tale introducing young readers to and empowering their positive sustainability practices, personal responsibility and thoughtfulness for others and the world around us. Highly recommended for repeat readings (and it will sit neatly on your bookshelf when it’s time to pack it away!).
For readers and environmental warriors as young as four, Clutterbugs will transform perceptions on managing the common crisis of clutter pervading our daily lives. In Steff’s case, her room is so messy, she is literally unable to see the floor. And even worse, she has now lost the gift she bought for her friend Jay’s birthday. Enter these tiny, snuggly-looking blue creatures with a pile of wisdom, tonnes of energy, and loads of organisational skills that have Steff swiftly sweeping her mess into sorted groups with labels, ‘Keep’, ‘Toss’, and ‘Recycle’. Props to Steff for her efficiency (I wish I found decluttering so easy! Perhaps we all need some clutterbugs in our lives!), even though the missing toy rocket remains a mystery (or does it?!). This is where the next phase of the process comes in. With creativity and resourcefulness, Steff shows us how rewarding the art of repurposing can be, and opens our eyes to the ‘mountainous’ impact consumerism can have on our purchasing habits (did you see Steff’s room before she met the clutterbugs?!).
I love how playfully educational this story is without compromising on the art of what makes a great picture book. Maura Pierlot’s rhyme is tidy and fully engaging, whilst Maya Bora’s brightly coloured digital brushwork completely brings mess to life in the most exuberant way possible! Her inclusions of clutter detail, emotion and expression are incredible, not to mention the sneaky antics of Steff’s dog Pierre (watch out for that one!) and of course, those adorably unique and distinctively individual little clutterbugs!
With this book, we’ve discovered the most meaningful gift of all. Clutterbugs, a timely and lively tale introducing young readers to and empowering their positive sustainability practices, personal responsibility and thoughtfulness for others and the world around us. Highly recommended for repeat readings (and it will sit neatly on your bookshelf when it’s time to pack it away!).
April 3, 2025
With a rollicking rhythm and a fun rhyming pattern, Clutterbugs is a delight to read and share with young children. The boldly coloured illustrations provide a visual feast to match and children will enjoy exploring every detail.
I’m sure children will have their own opinions of Steff’s room as they mentally compare it with their own rooms, and many will have advice to share about how to organise her mess. No doubt some children will be horrified while others will be able to identify with her difficulty in locating the gift she’d bought for her friend who was celebrating a birthday that day.
That’s when an army of cute little blue clutterbugs came to the rescue, helping Steff to sort her mess and at least find the floor, and the door, if not the gift. The clutterbugs helped Steff sort all her items into piles of those to keep, those to toss and those to recycle. As someone who has just downsized, I empathised with Steff knowing that, though she wanted a lot, she needed much less.
The process that the clutterbugs helped Steff with is one that children will be able to use themselves. Even when Steff couldn’t find the gift she’d bought, the clutterbugs helped her out with another plan. They showed her that ‘A fun thing to do is to put things together to make something new.’ So, in addition to sorting to keep or toss, the clutterbugs taught her that old things can be reused or repurposed to make something new again. Steff also discovered that sometimes the things you make are valued more highly than store bought gifts.
As well as encouraging children to be more organised and less messy with their belongings, Clutterbugs will inspire them to more creative in the way they use, reuse and recycle them. The book can be read and shared for sheer enjoyment, or to provide those deeper discussions.
I’m sure children will have their own opinions of Steff’s room as they mentally compare it with their own rooms, and many will have advice to share about how to organise her mess. No doubt some children will be horrified while others will be able to identify with her difficulty in locating the gift she’d bought for her friend who was celebrating a birthday that day.
That’s when an army of cute little blue clutterbugs came to the rescue, helping Steff to sort her mess and at least find the floor, and the door, if not the gift. The clutterbugs helped Steff sort all her items into piles of those to keep, those to toss and those to recycle. As someone who has just downsized, I empathised with Steff knowing that, though she wanted a lot, she needed much less.
The process that the clutterbugs helped Steff with is one that children will be able to use themselves. Even when Steff couldn’t find the gift she’d bought, the clutterbugs helped her out with another plan. They showed her that ‘A fun thing to do is to put things together to make something new.’ So, in addition to sorting to keep or toss, the clutterbugs taught her that old things can be reused or repurposed to make something new again. Steff also discovered that sometimes the things you make are valued more highly than store bought gifts.
As well as encouraging children to be more organised and less messy with their belongings, Clutterbugs will inspire them to more creative in the way they use, reuse and recycle them. The book can be read and shared for sheer enjoyment, or to provide those deeper discussions.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews