I am absolutely a wombat and a Wombat fan. Despite the presence of many WOMBAT SKEPTICS in my four year old kindergarten classes (It's a bear Ms. Jennifer! Wombats aren't real!") I persist in bringing these stubborn, adorable, and, in the hands of French and Whatley, utterly hilarious animals to a disbelieving audience.
I was vaguely aware there was a whole series out there, but had never really pursued it because it's not generally available in the US (why does the UK have so many more things available in paperback? It's a mystery.) However, when I was offered a copy for review, I simply could not resist.
The book starts in the same vein as the other Wombat books, as the Wombat has a normal day of sleeping, eating grass, and scratching... and then she finds a hole! This leads her to school where she wreaks havoc in the principal's office, delights and horrifies the children by mistaking things (including their orange socks) for carrots, and herself gets mistaken for a furry brown ball! Finally, she returns home, to the bemusement of the crossing guard and the grins of the children, and settles back into her usual routine.
I find these books endlessly humorous, with their straight-faced, tongue-in-cheek humor. The children wear uniforms, kind of, and backpacks, but the school looks familiar enough to be anywhere and features a small, but diverse class. The brief text, from the wombat's viewpoint, leads to most of the humor as she mistakes things for carrots and other wombat-friendly items.
Verdict: I don't include paperbacks in my picture book collection, or I would buy this like a shot! As is, it will go into my traveling library of paperbacks and I can't wait to show it to my wombat skeptics!
ISBN: 9780732299033; Published June 2020 by HarperCollins Children's Books; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library
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