Customer Reviews

Wombat Walkabout

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This is a delightful read for large and small. One of those picture books where the villain lurks somewhere... on every page. The wombats on their walkabout introduce us to the uniqueness of Australia. The language,the drawings great. I had a hard time packaging it up and sending it off to my niece's twins I was having so much fun reading it out loud.

Honestly, this book is the cutest. It's a library loaner but I'm going to buy a copy. The author was able to toss in unfamiliar words while still keeping the story pretty light. My daughter and I think the wombats in the book couldn't be any cuter! My son enjoyed asking questions - "what's a dingo? - where is Australia."

Well done!

One of our favorite picture books -- a fun story, new Aussie vocabulary, and great rhymes. Perfect for the 2 to 4 crowd.

I had ordered some books for my 3-year old and put them in a box then shipped the box out to where we were moving... He found the box a week ago and picked out this book and it stays beside him while he sleeps at night! He looks for the dingo at every page and counts each wombat when they start disappearing. It definitely keeps his attention with every page turn, and he wants to read it over and over again! After a few reads, he learned each wombat by name. As a parent, I love that it gives him a cultural experience learning about other animals (& things) from other parts of the world. The pictures are beautiful and the wombats are adorable with characters of their own. A must buy for any toddler!

Sophie Blackall provides engaging drawings for Carol Diggory Shields' WOMBAT WALKABOUT, a lively survey of six woolly wombats who go on a walkabout and miss seeing the dingo with the hungry eye. This whimsical counting book set in the Australian outback is a lovely presentation for any young math learner seeking an adventure story.

There were six chubby little wombats named Jen, Jack, Theodore, Pru, Clive and Lee. They "went walkabout," with Clive bringing up the rear. As they ambled along they didn't notice the hungry dingo who said to himself, "I've a hunch my lunch just walked on by." The wombats, walking in a single file, had no idea when Clive, who stopped to smell some flowers, was no longer in the back of the group. After they crossed the "bridge at the billabong" Theodore was missing. Hmmm, only four of the original group was still ambling along and they didn't even notice.

Next when Lee stopped to listen to the kookaburra . . . well, I bet you know he went missing too. Pru stopped to pick up a gum nut and then there were only two chubby wombats left. It was pretty darn quiet and they finally noticed something was wrong. Jen and Jack were alarmed when they noticed that big old dingo, his "tail a-wag, and on his back a big swag bag!" They knew their friends were in that bag and they had to think of an ingenious plan to get them out. Were the two remaining wombats going to end up as the dingo's lunch or would they save the day and rescue their pals?

The cheerful, adorable art work and the story mesh perfectly to bring the flavor of Australia to the young reader. In the front of the book there is a short glossary of words that appear in the book, many that are unfamiliar to most children (unless of course they live in Australia). This is a fun book to introduce a bit of Australia to children and, if you are so inclined, to burst into song when you see that kookaburra. "Laugh, kookaburra! laugh kookaburra!" . . . you're going to love to read this book with your child!