Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French, illustrated by Bruce Whatley

There are some animals that are inherently funny: penguins, platipi, ostriches… and wombats. Last year, my parents went on a vacation to Australia. They had a wonderful time, of course, and had to buy a suitcase full of gifts for everyone back home. I got a leather purse and a stuffed koala bear. My niece (actually my cousin’s daughter), who was not even one year old yet, got a bib with a cartoon wombat on it.

“Oh! Oh! A wombat!” I exclaimed when my mom showed it to me. “That is sooooo cute!”

“You know what a wombat is?” she asked, surprised.

“Of course. I’ve read Diary of a Wombat. Wombats are so cute.” Then I had to explain about the absolutely cutest book of 2002: Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French. And then I had to buy a copy of it to give to my niece along with the bib.

You get the idea from the cover art. The paintings are spare, but they perfectly convey the personality of this intrepid food-and-sleep-seeking wombat. The text is printed in a child-like, handwritten font, as if the wombat himself had written the book.

“Tuesday. Morning: Slept. Afternoon: Slept. Evening: Ate grass. Night: Ate grass. Decided grass is boring. Scratched. Hard to reach the itchy bits. Slept.”

On Wednesday, our wombat discovers that he has new neighbors: humans. He then proceeds to innocently intrude on human life, first battling a flat, hairy creature (their welcome mat), then demanding a reward for his victory. “Received a carrot. It was delicious. Evening: Demanded more carrots.” And wombat has parked himself in front of the family’s door.

Wombat makes himself comfortable in his neighbor’s yard, scratching himself on their stuff, banging on their “large metal objects” until more carrots are offered, digging a nice hole to sleep in. When he gets tired of carrots, he tries chewing some other things before being offered a bowl of oats. In the end, he comes to a conclusion: “Evening: Have decided that humans are easily trained and make quite good pets.”

The art is what really makes Diary of a Wombat so delightful. And though my niece’s bib has quite a different type of wombat drawn on it, it too is too cute for words. Last Saturday was my cousin’s birthday, and we met for a big family lunch. When it was time to eat, she pulled out a bib for my niece, and—“Is that the wombat bib?” I exclaimed.

“Yeah,” she replied as she fixed it onto her daughter’s neck.

“That is so cool,” I said.

Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French, illustrated by Bruce Whatley

Tags: children's+books autstralia wombats Jackie+French Bruce+Whatley