Have you heard the phrase one kid’s trash is another kid’s treasure? You would probably think that examining someone’s trash is disgusting, right? It’s kind of objectionable, but it would be fascinating if they could tell about you just from your trash! Today, I’ll be talking about a book called One Kid’s Trash that you’ll definitely want to read once you hear more about it.

This book is about a boy named Hugo, who has to move from Colorado to a school called Beech Creek Middle School in Creekside. Hugo was born smaller than average people- a smaller immune system and a smaller body. That’s probably why he got bullied. Even though he’s definitely upset, he luckily has his cool cousin, Vijay, to back him up at school and show him around. Hugo gets shown around and even decides to join the newspaper club. Actually, scratch that- he’s kind of forced to join it.

Hugo attends all his classes, feeling hatred for one specific, strict teacher-Mr. Wahl, who is the algebra teacher. When Hugo, Vijay, and one of the members of the newspaper club, Micah, get detention for him for being late, Micah, who’s such a thoughtful person, causes Hugo to feel the wrath. He suddenly explodes about his teacher chewing nicotine gum and not having a girlfriend. Everyone laughs and wonders how he would know that. Hugo explains that when examining Mr. Wahl’s trash, he found nicotine-gum wrappers and didn’t think he would have a girlfriend anyway with his looks and habits.

Vijay saw this talent that Hugo had and wanted him to share it with others. But when encountering a bully, Chance, in the gym locker room, Hugo doesn’t want to risk becoming even dorkier. His size was enough; he didn’t need more attention to himself. However, Vijay still has a small urge to share it. The next day at lunch, Vijay brings his sister’s trash. Hugo doesn’t know it’s his sister’s, but when examining it, he knows that she’s a perfectionist and was probably embarrassed about the thrown-away erasers found in the bag.

Vijay really adored this talent. Of course, him being a cool person, he shares with others that Hugo could examine someone’s trash and actually find out what it says about them. While Hugo was hoping that his garbology tricks wouldn’t get out, he feels more popular and a bit more loved by people at school. Soon, almost everybody knew about Hugo the Garbologist and took their trash to him for him to analyze. They used the information Hugo gave them to help them, whether it was to know more about their crush or to be a teacher’s favorite.

Andrew was one of the kids who asked for Hugo’s help. Andrew wanted to be a gym teacher’s favorite so that he would consider taking him for the team he wanted to try out for. He also started to hang out more with Hugo once Vijay introduced him to Hugo at a sleepover. However, Vijay gets a tinge of envy when Hugo starts hanging out with Andrew and a few other people more, but they try to work it out. Chance keeps bullying Hugo and, one day, takes it a step too far. Hugo is at his limit right now, so he decides to do something that would get him in trouble if anyone found out he did it. He couldn’t do it alone, however, so he asked Vijay to help. They opened Chance’s gym locker while he was playing a sport with others and glanced at several weaknesses about Chance. Want to find out what those shortcomings are? Want to find out what Hugo and Vijay do with this information? Want to find out if they get in trouble? Read the book to find out!

I rate this book 5 stars because how it’s about a topic that I’ve never really heard of before: garbology. Out of all the books I’ve read, not once have I heard about one talking about a boy who finds interest in garbology and uses it to be cool. I also admire the plot and characters, as well as the newspaper club. I would recommend this book to people ten years and older, realistic fiction lovers, and garbology lovers. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and read this book!

Written by Kruti Patel