Wombats -- Juvenile fiction. |
Diaries -- Juvenile fiction. |
Diaries. |
Fiction. |
Available:*
Audience | Shelf Location | Material Type | Shelf Number | Current Location |
---|---|---|---|---|
Kids/Juvenile | Picture books | Book | E FRENCH | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
The inimitable wombat who shared her adventures (eating, scratching, digging, sleeping) in the wildly successful Diary of a Wombat is back-with a baby! This time, it's the baby who tells the story. And a perfect wombat story it is, featuring eating, scratching, digging, sleeping, and playing, as well as the important task of finding a new underground home big enough for baby and Mum. Wry, understated humor and gorgeous, funny illustrations make this new picture book a brilliant next chapter in the wombat saga.
Author Notes
Jackie French was born on November 29, 1953 in Sydney, Australia. She overcame dyslexia to write over 140 books for both children and adults. Her children's books include Diary of a Wombat, Christmas Wombat, Flood, and Fire. A Waltz for Matilda, published in 2016, won the Kids Reading Oz Choice (KROC) Award for fiction for years 7-9. She has also written 6 gardening books. She has received numerous awards including the 2000 CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers and the UK Wow! Award for Hitler's Daughter, an Aurealis Award for Cafe on Callisto, and ACT Book of the Year for In the Blood. She was chosen to be the Australian National Children's Laureate for 2014-2015 and was named the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. She also won a 2015 Excellence Award and the Redmond Barry Award, which honors contributions to the library and information sector. In 2016, she and illustrator Peter Bray won the ACT Writing and Publishing Award in the children's book category for their book, Horace the Baker's Horse and she was given the Pixie O'Harris Award for service to Australian children's books given by the Australian Book Industry Awards.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-As delectable in tone and delivery as the beloved Diary of a Wombat (Clarion, 2003), this title is told from the perspective of a baby wombat that makes multiple creative attempts to find the family a bigger home. Mum and baby are growing out of their burrow. They can't find a place big enough for them until the young wombat finds a human toddler friend who invites them to live in his "hole." This arrangement isn't successful, but children will be charmed by the friendship formed during the child and the animal's play. While the text, floating in plenty of white, reads simply: "Morning: Woke up.../Dug a new hole. /Afternoon: Scratched," the deft acrylic illustrations depict a sequence of vignettes laid out across the bottom margin of the page, reminiscent of a flip book laid out flat: baby wombat waddling out of a cramped burrow; toddler making a sand castle with baby wombat digging alongside; baby wombat scratching on a young tree, causing a bird's nest to fall on the toddler's head. The typeface is childlike, etched, and irregular. Beginning readers have just enough text to gain confidence while the illustrations provide oodles more meaning and endless laughs. It is a text begging for inference. For more wombat facts, pair this with French's How to Scratch a Wombat (Clarion, 2009).-Sara Lissa Paulson, American Sign Language and English Lower School PS 347, New York City (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
The slothful star of 2003's Diary of Wombat is now a "mum" (reflecting the book's Australian setting), and her chubby blue offspring takes center stage. And while the wombats' talent for sleep continues to set them apart, it's nice to know that certain things are common across species; when the baby becomes annoying (he uses his mother's stomach as a trampoline), "Mum decided it was time to PLAY... OUTSIDE!" He meets up with a human baby who becomes his playmate (they splash each other with a hose and try out each others' morning snacks-grass and a bottle of milk), and inadvertently helps the ever-expanding (in terms of girth) wombat family find more spacious digs. The story itself is almost incidental: the real fun comes from the interplay of French's laconic journalizing ("Afternoon: Played" and "Morning: Woke up. BORED..." are typical entries), the poker-faced typography, and Whatley's wry acrylic spot illustrations, which unspool on a single plane like a droll parade, suggesting the kind of long, leisurely days that seem to stretch on forever. Ages 5-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
In this follow-up to Diary of a Wombat (2003), Baby Wombat is now writing his own diary about a life that is like his mum's Early morning: Slept. Slept. Late morning: Slept. Woke up but with a twist: Smelled the flowers. Ate the flowers. The pacing of the spare text and the engaging illustrations combine humorously, especially when the baby wombat meets a human baby, and their antics mirror each other. Large areas of white space surround the whimsical acrylic illustrations, rife with subtle details, heightening the appeal of this cute picture book.--Austin, Patricia Copyright 2010 Booklist