Wombats Books

For some bizarre reason Amazon lists re-released editions of books as separate products so people believe them to be sold out when they aren't necessarily so. At the time of this review they did have the 21st anniversary (2005) edition in stock but if they too are now sold out just do a general search for this title, there will be a number of different editions (with their own collection reviews) where you may find an available copy. Rest assured anyway if all are sold out that Australian publishers like to celebrate anniversaries and constantly re-release children's picture books, so no doubt there will be a 25th edition released in 2009 and probably a 30th in 2014 as well. Since Amazon is a bit slow on their product updates you may need to search Amazon (or even Australian merchant websites) for these books in the years ahead.

Originally published in Australia in 1984 this book has more than stood the test of time bringing joy to children throughout time. A basic but good storyline combined with great illustrations means this is going to be a constant request by children to be read to them again and again and again. This book is an excellent book to teach children about the different types of creatures in Australia. Although the book doesn't give information on them the drawings are so well done you can expand from the storyline to point out the platypus' duck like bill, echidna's spines and other fairly unique adaptations particular Australian animals have.

Just in case you're wondering the basic plot of wombat stew is a dingo catches a wombat and boasts to everyone (all types of Australian animals) that he is going to shortly be enjoying gooey, brewy, yummy, chewy, wombat stew. These other animals are friends with the wombat and have a cunning plan to save their friend by giving suggestions of other ingredients to add to the stew. For those parents who now how to play or whose kids are learning a musical instrument the final page has the music score to the Dingo's song so the notes can be followed and played by instruments of some kids and sung along by others.

The constant lack of availability and selling out of Wombat Stew is a good lesson to keep good children's books even when your kids have moved on to older reading level books. In the future if you have more kids, friends have kids, you have grandkids etc they will all be very grateful when you come to visit with this classic. For those who don't yet have a copy rest assured though, there will always be anniversary editions of great Australian classics such as this.

Other great Australian wildlife fiction classics for kids by other authors you should check out are Possum Magic, Olga the Brolga and Edward the Emu.

In Wombat's Friend a wombat is told there must be something wrong with her because she plays with and is best friends with a wallaby. Wanting to fit in with the other wombats she ditches her plans of a fun day with her best friend to hang out with the other wombats but discovers life to be quite boring What does she do? You'll need to read and find out.

Lots of wombat and wallaby photographs throughout.

A good book to read to kids before they start school where they may come in contact with different races, genders for the first time and may face pressure from adult and children bigots to play with thier own kind.

There are at least 20 books in the Rebecca Johnson (writer)/ Steve Parish (photographer) in the Steve Parish Storybook collection and with he exception of the odd average one, most are really good. Amazon only sells a fraction of the titles so you may need to look elsewhere as well. All have Australian animals as the main characters with the series covering land based mammals, reptiles and even including ocean based ones such as clown fish and dolphins. This is a very successful series sold not just in bookstores but wildlife parks and well anywhere that sells postcards and souveneirs in Australia so there will no doubt be hundreds in this series in the future.

There's also another in this series involving a wombat called Wambat's Secret. Not in this series but a very good children's picture book involving wombats is Wombat Stew by Marcia Vaughan. Sebastian Lives in a Hat by by Thelma Catterwell and Kerry Argent is also a good picture book.

Other great Australian wildlife fiction picture book classics aside from this series by other authors you should check out are Possum Magic, Hunwick's Egg, Olga the Brolga and Edward the Emu.

This book is an excellent reference (indeed, one of the few references available for us non-Ozzies!) for this fascinating critter

The Emerald Cathedral has some strengths. The sense of place is rich and evocative, for instance. The prose however is not very clean; poor paragraphing leads to confusion in a number of places. The Emerald Cathedral is more of a religious story than a bigfoot tale.

I live in the Northwest, not too far from the HOH rainforest. It is so beautiful here and author Jones describes it with great clarity and justice. The logging industry and the folks who have lived their life at its mercy are described in human terms. Although I could be aptly termed a tree-hugger, I have a greater respect and understanding for those whose livlihood depends on timber. I am grateful to the author for enlightening me. A grieving family is portrayed with respect and the author shows good insight into the diversity of individual grief work. As a grief counselor, I highly recommend this book for that reason as well as its descriptive passages and insight into Northwest folklore and rural Northwest living.

Anyone from the great Northwest will enjoy the vivid descriptions of the areas in and around the Olympic Rain Forest. Those not familiar with this area can easily picture themselves lost in these lush green misty woods and feel their splendor and mystery. The descriptions of the wildlife living in this area is well documented in this story. The idea of Bigfoot is alive and well in the Pacific Northwest and brought to life in this novel. (As an aside, the Bigfoot legend has taken on a new resurgence since an East Coast scientist and his family reported seeing Bigfoot this summer.) This book will cause the reader to spiritually contemplate the mysteries of nature and man.

R.H. Jones writes a fantastic story about faith, family and a historical mystery sourounding Washington States, Quinault Rain Forest. The story line provides enjoyable reading that ends with a nail biting conclusion. A book you will want to read more than one time.

I read this book aloud to my husband as we drove thru the same area and towns as in the book. It was a tale woven so well that even if we weren't there we could visualize it. We grew up near the area and it was just magical to read. We read it 2 years ago and it still stays with me. I'm buying it for 2 of our grandsons who are great readers and will enjoy it.

I don't know what it is about the very word "wombat" which gets some people well on the way to cracking up with laughter. Fortunately, if you are not one of them, the fact that one of the characters in this story is turned into a wombat in the second chapter and stays that way for most of the rest of the book is far from being the only joke.

The magical world is running out of psychic energy because humans in the "outer worlds" have stopped believing in witches, monsters, and other supernatural beings. So the troll, Bentwood, who acts as the Producer for "Grimmworld" comes up with an idea - to harness the imagination of dungeons and dragons fanatics from our world by bringing them to the "Inner Worlds" for a quest in the belief that they are taking part in a computer-generated adventure game.

Hali, the "Witch" half of the title, and her familiar Bernie, who is the "Wombat" half, have to shepherd a group of three human kids and an obnoxious critic through the world of magic, not realising that the hazards they are passing through are very real and that they could actually get killed. At first, since most of the ogres and monsters attacking the party have been hired by the management and are under strict instructions to lose the fights the party gets into, the danger should not be too great. But then they run into union monsters who are on strike against the management, and suddenly things start to get rather too exciting ...

The ending is a little downbeat; I wonder if Cushman was setting things up for a sequel which was never written. However, in general this is by turns amusing and exciting, and always entertaining.

This book has a little bit of everything - and all of it well done! Fantasy, role playing, magic, romance, fairy tale, dry humor, and mythical creatures are all in this one. The good (Hali), the bad (snotty elflord), and the ugly (Bentwood) combine to keep you entertained throughout the book. I recommend this book highly. My only complaint is that there is no sequel. I would definitely like to see more like this.

Business has been slow for Hali, and she's stuck in an irritatingly tidy A-frame with a blue plastic roof. When her boss Bentwood comes up with a scheme to lure fantasy gamers to the Inner World as tourists, she agrees to help in exchange for a properly spooky witch's hut... There are few surprises in this first novel, but the cheerful tone and amusing skits keep the pages turning.

this was such a great book that i can only hope there are sequels. a dash of realism in the fantasy world leaves witch hali needing money for a new house. the idea of her running counseling sessions for a group of teenagers under the cover of 'virtual reality' to disguise the magic was lots of fun and leaves us open for a sequel.. which i hope comes someday.

Business has been slow for Hali, and she's stuck in an irritatingly tidy
A-frame with a blue plastic roof. When her boss Bentwood comes up
with a scheme to lure fantasy gamers to the Inner World as tourists,
she agrees to help in exchange for a properly spooky witch's hut...

As witches go, she lacked a certain fearsome something...
Preteens, to her mortification, pegged her instantly as a pushover...
Hali liked to think that her mouse-brown hair snaked about her face,
but in reality it hung in limp tendrils that only came to life in wet
weather, when they suddenly sat up and curled wildly...

At the other extreme, Hali's most beguiling expression, adopted at
social occasions attended by attractive males, tended to send her targets
running for their lives.

The gamers are told that they'll have a chance to play a VR game of
*unprecedented* realism. They're duly ported over from the Outer
Worlds, and the fun begins. The first group includes two college boys,
one high-school girl, and a singularly obnoxious game-critic - in
terminal exasperation, Hali turns this last into a giant dung-beetle. He
finds he rather likes his new role...

"Trust me, he's a happy insect, " Hali said... "The antidote's the
usual... "

"True love's kiss?", Bernie asked, amused. "That one's not going to
find true love outside a mirror."

There are few surprises in this first novel, but the cheerful tone and
amusing skits keep the pages turning. Ms. Cushman is perhaps better-
known for her monthly column in Locus, where she reviews books
much like the one she has written (though most of those are not so
well done). She is a reliable reviewer and an entertaining writer. I
hope she got sufficient encouragement from "W&W" to write another.

Happy reading--
Peter D. Tillman

[review written 1998]

Our children's grandfather brought this treasure home as a gift when he visited Australia almost 20 years ago. Our four kids are grown, but when we are all home for an occasion, we still can sit and read out-loud from this delightful book. We have been known to laugh until we truly cry at the antics of these very human and endearing characters. I rate it with Winnie-the-Pooh as the best ever, for children AND adults.

We originally bought this piece of classic Austrailian children's literature back in 1992. That book has worn out from use and we are purchasing a second at the request of the children. It is similar to Winnie-the-Pooh, although Wombat can get a little stubborn sometimes. We find it very humorous.

Not as good as Sometimes I Like to Curl Up In a Ball. This was a favourite of mine and my wife's and we read it to our baby regularly. Swim Little Wombat, Swim is good. A good story about water safety and learning to swim. The illustrations are good, (more detail and vibrant compared to the classic Goodnight Moon or the fun and sketchy Boyton books, which we like as well) but the colours are not as good as in Sometimes I Like to Curl... The thing I didn't like (spoiler) was the page were the characters were resting, after eating. I don't think the image of shrimp remains and severed shrimp head was a good call. Sure, a baby doesn't know what this is, but still, wouldn't the author think, hmmmm... I should leave shrimp body parts out of the book?

"Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball" was SOOOOO good, that this one doesn't really compare. I like the lesson that you can learn to swim and accomplish things, but the story is more narrated and longer...kind of wordy for a board book. Better for older child, not really for a 15-month old.

Possible the best book so far illustrated by Charles Fuge, Wombats learns how to make a friend, and how to swim. My son loves the book and so do I.

My 4 year old enjoys the Little Wombat series and this book did not dissappoint. The whimsical artwork and rhymes delight his young mind. He enjoys reading them with me and "reading" them back to me.

I bought two more baby wombat books after finding "Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball" by the same author. The illustrations, as always, are wonderful, and the book is amusing, but what's missing is the message. "Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball" and "Where to, Little Wombat?" both have a sweet (but subtle!) message for the kids (the first is about a mother's love; the second teaches that there's no place like home). There is no message to be found in this book, and I miss that. If you like pointless kid's books, buy this one - if not, look at the other two.

After purchasing Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball, I was anxious to introduce my children to more of the adventures of Little Wombat. So, I purchased this book. The illustrations were just as meticulous and detailed as in Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball, but it lacked the same charm. The text did not rhyme or flow in the same way. Author Vicki Churchill was noticeably absent; Charles Fuge both wrote and illustrated the book.

The story itself is sweet and simple. Little Wombat grows dissatisfied with his home, and tries to find better accommodations. He comes to the conclusion that his home is just right for him. It is a nice story about belonging, but it is missing the special touch that Vicki Churchill added to Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball.

I like Fuge's stories. I bought the Little Wombat series for my niece a couple of years ago, and now that my nephew and two second cousins have been born, I've stockpiled same to gift to each of them during their formative years. Cute little stories- the fact that they are in durable board book form is a great plus. I hope they all like the books as much as I do!

I bought this book for my nephews because they love "Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball" by the same author. This one is just as well illustrated, amusing, and has a good message (there's no place like home). The boys and I both love it.

I bought this on a whim - loved the illustrations. It's a huge hit with my three year old son. Little Wombat is searching for another place to stay because he is bored with his home.... of course, home turns out to be the best place. My son especially loves turning the book sideways to see poor little wombat failing to climb a tree - and the angry Mrs. Emu chasing poor Wombat from the nest. We have bought other Little Wombat books and they are all a big hit.

I've bought all of the Little Wombat books so I was very keen to get a hold of this latest instalment of little Wombats adventures, I was most disappointed with this book however, Charles Fudge's illustrations do not have the same fun and joy found in his original three books, and worst of all is the lack of knowledge of Australian Animals, mainly the fact Mole appears again (there is no moles in Australia!!!), Wombat visits a Turtle but the illustration is of a Tortoise, Emus don't have nests like birds, and it's the male Emu that protects the eggs not Mrs. Emu.
I've mistakenly bought an American copy of the book also so Im stuck with American spelling also.
If it was the first Charles Fudge book I had bought I would not of minded too much but after seeing his previous books I expected much better.

Mostly, it must be admitted, because the boy in it looks a lot like her bestest friend ever.

This is a simply written (if slightly long) book about a wombat whose only skill, it seems, is to dig and think. Everybody he encounters laughs at how little he can do, showing off *their* skills.

But when a fire comes and he digs and digs and digs a hole, he invites them all to share his hole, because he's been thinking and he *thinks* that they can't outrun the fire with their abilities, but he can hide them from it. (And he's right.)

The book is beautifully illustrated, and neatly written as well.

This edition does have "Mom" at the end instead of "Mum". I think most of us, if this is a concern, can simply read the Other Word instead when reading to our kids, right?

One problem I do have with this book is that it's oversized, and too large to fit on my bookshelves.

This book is beautifully illustrated, however it is RUINED by the fact that the wombat at the end calls his Mum "Mom" (it would get 5 stars otherwise, the Wombat is my favourite "native"). If you're going to write a book on an Australian native mammal, at least give it a sense of authenticity and an Australian "accent". I picked it up at a local bookshop and almost flung it out of my hands when I saw that.

This is a sweet and simple story of a young Wombat searching for his mother. I read this book to my 5 and 7 year old girls. They enjoyed learning about the different Australian animals Wombat meets on his journey. The beautiful illustrations of Australian animals and the outback seem illuminated by a dusk glow of the sun - they make this book a treasure. They were intriguing to my girls. They made the world of the Australian outback seem lifelike and exciting. What a fun way for children to learn a little more about another part of the world.

Charles Fuge is one of the best illustrators of children's books that I have come across. My son is high energy and these pictures keep him sitting throughout the whole story. I have compared this book with the single print versions I have and it's obvious that the print is not right. It's a bit green. Also, the single printings have MUCH more depth. In the good printings, the illustrations come alive; in this one, they do not. I noticed the inferiority immediately, but decided to keep the book so I don't mind when my kids destroy it. I will take time and collect the others for when the kids are older and can appreciate the complexities in life. Please do not judge Charles Fuge's work by this printing.

Adventures of Little Wombat
My daughter is so in love with Little Wombat. It is nice to have all of the stories in one place (although I wish there were more stories..) The pictures are bright and cheerful and the animals make her laugh as she points them out to us.