Diary of a rescued wombat by Jackie French & Bruce Whatley

Twenty years after the first story by French and Whatley about wombats appeared, (The diary of a wombat, 2002) comes this behind the scenes look at Mothball and how she trained her humans.

All the familiar features are reprised happily for wombat lovers. All hearts will melt when seeing an orphaned wombat on the first page, or see how she single-mindedly eats through her cage to demand carrots, or dig holes, or sleep.

A year’s worth of training follows her rescue, as she tries out the grass, finding it quite to her liking, but at various months in the year, the grass is either too short, too dry, too long or not there at all. Then she searches for carrots, even eating those left for Santa’s reindeer at Christmas. Between searching for carrots and sleeping comes scratching.

Mothball was made famous in Jackie French’s first book and this charming tale delivers another dose of fun to her dedicated readers. We see the wombat snuggled in her hole, alone and afraid before a human rescues her. She learns about her environment, snuggling into a new hole she has dug, one that over the year becomes too small, we see her acquaint herself with the neighbours, trying out various new food sources, and eating a lot of grass and sleeping. But over all she must train her humans to deliver carrots and this she does with success, eventually.

This engaging and witty tale about a baby wombat and her development will be eagerly looked for by children, already familiar with the seven other wombat stories published over the last twenty years. Each encompasses positive reactions to Australian animals, promoting conservation, environment and protection.

Supported by Bruce Wheatley’s beautiful acrylic illustrations, the book is a must have, taking its place on a shelf of wonderful wombat books.

Whatley gives a cheeky grin to his Mothball, an animal that almost knows what she is about: wide eyed innocence on one page to sleepy half closed eyes when talking to the neighbours, or startled eyes when covered with ice in winter, or very sad eyes when alone in her burrow. Each page is full of humour as Whatley draws the now familiar wombat outline, entrancing a new following. And the front cover will draw many sighs of appreciation as we see Mothball, asleep in her basket, surrounded by the detritus she has created while she settles into her new home.

In focussing our attention in Mothball and her beginnings, French draws our attention to all rescue animals, wanting a new home, waiting to be cared for by a new batch of humans.

Themes: Wombats, Rescue animals, Environment, Christmas, Conservation, Humour.

Fran Knight