Baby Wombat's Week by Jackie French

cover image

Ill. by Bruce Whatley. Angus and Robertson, 2011. ISBN 9780732293185.
(Age 2+) Highly recommended. Board book. The sequel to Diary of a wombat as a board book format is another winner for the French and Whatley duo. This time the main character is Baby Wombat, whose mother Mothball featured in the first book. Baby Wombat leaves a trail of destruction behind him as he plays with a ball, has a snack from the baby's bottle and breaks the water pipe when he digs a huge hole.
Bruce Whatley's delightful illustrations perfectly augment Jackie French's sparse prose. The book is divided up into days, with Baby Wombat having an adventure each day. He sleeps a lot and Whatley's pictures of Mum and baby are so very heart warming, illustrating love and devotion perfectly. Children will giggle out loud at the pictures of the Baby Wombat stealing the tiny tot's ball and drinking out of his bottle. They can easily imagine the fun it would be to have a wombat knocking over a fence to smell the flowers in the garden, and then causing havoc by eating them; as well as digging a huge hole in a sandpit. And imagine the joy of showing a baby wombat their house.
This sturdy board book is perfect for young children who will greatly enjoy the adventures of Baby Wombat and if they haven't been introduced to Diary of a wombat, they will certainly want that one as well.
Pat Pledger

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