Philip Bunting, Wombat, Scholastic Australia, November 2020, 32pp., RRP $17.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760972370
Wombat is the latest adventure from author and illustrator, Philip Bunting who brought us Kookaburras Love to Laugh and Koalas Eat Gum Leaves. Wombat is a rhythmic tale capturing the ‘unseen world of the wombat’ in a fun and humorous way.
Philip Bunting’s intention with his simple, yet effective style of writing and illustrating is to create fun reading opportunities that enhance engagement with books and literacy, which hopefully translates in children finding ‘comfort in reading and learning’. With its simple, minimal text Wombat invites readers to add their own personal flair to the story using expression and personality while sharing and reading it aloud. The beauty of this is that Wombat is a story which keeps on giving the more often it is read, and by the more people who read it and put their own individual stamp on it.
Wombat encourages children to also be a part of the storytelling adventure as the simple words and illustrations encourage them to use their emerging literacy skills and understanding of the relationship between words and images. There are sure to be giggles as readers are introduced to ‘splatbat’, ‘pongbat’, ‘om-nom-nom-nombat’ and others.
Wombat quickly became a new favourite for us and is sure to please other young readers, and adults alike, as a charming and silly opportunity to share in reading together.
Reviewed by Raquel Mayman