Read along as a wombat takes us on a journey of her week - digging holes, sleeping, eating, and training the new neighbors. Wombats can get into lots of trouble during the course of a week.

 

Students will laugh as the wombat wreaks havoc. After reading students can write their own animal diaries and come up with fun scenarios for their animals to be in. 

 

Lexile: 390L

This story takes place during WWII, but it isn’t the usual tale of that period. The main character is a German boy. He has been taught in school that Hitler is correct in his way of thinking and Jewish people are bad. He doesn’t realize what is happening in his country until someone finds a Jewish ancestor on his father’s side. His life is forever changed. Much of this book takes place in Australia. I don’t remember ever reading of what was happening in Australia during WWII. Sometimes I don’t think about the fact that this was a world war and affected everyone. The message is to love not hate. I enjoyed it and recommend it for young and adult readers.

These books are highly simplistic and completely utterly "children's" books. And they never fail to amuse and delight me. They are simply adorable and this one is no exception. The illustrations are the cutest things, especially the facial expressions and also somehow the posture of the wombat. Recommended to all, young and old alike.

Wombats and hedgehogs appear to be my spirit animals, minus all the carrots.

A rhyming picture book about the power and destruction of an Australian bushfire with watercolor illustrations by Bruce Whatley featuring hard-hitting scenes like woods in flame, completely destroyed homes, crying families, fire-fighters at work, and animal rescuers in action. Despite the hard reality of the topic, the author and illustrator manage to end with a reminder that "King fire" only temporarily triumphs.  

 

For those who live in an area with bush fires or who have children who have experienced bush fires, this book would be a great addition to your library shelves and way to start conversations or prepare children for fire season.  

 

An interesting note about how the illustrations are done: instead of making them have a bleed, the original pencil outline for the main illustration box is shown along with the ragged brush strokes that spill out from it around the edges.  

French settled in a wildish section of Australia many years ago, putting her in a fabulous position to observe wombats. Since then she's devoted some time to rehabilitating wildlife as well as observing and writing about it.

 

Fun nonfiction for the critter-lover; a good interim book for kids who aren't yet ready for Herriot, but are past primarily picture books. Wombats are adorable and troublesome, and her anecdotes are well delivered and engaging on a level suitable for elementary school kids as well as older fans of the species.

 

Library copy