HOW TO SCRATCH A WOMBAT
by Jackie French & illustrated by Bruce Whatley
In an equally beguiling companion to their award-winning Diary of a Wombat (2003), French and Whatley collaborate on an introduction to wombats and their behavior—as observed through the author’s 30+ years of having them as neighbors and caring for injured ones in New South Wales. After opening with her credentials (“I’ve also looked after orphaned baby wombats—cuddly, furry creatures that wreck your kitchen and take over your life”), she covers the animals’ ancestry, appearance (“hairy brown rocks with legs”), feeding habits, minds (such as they are), relations with humans and life cycle. Readers will come away understanding that they are wild animals despite their fondness for carrots and a good scratch on the back and that they can be enjoyable to have around so long as one doesn’t mind the occasional broken door or bite on the butt. They are also, as Whatley shows in frequent close-ups and vignettes, impossibly cute. This shorter version of a 2005 title published Down Under is as irresistible as its subject. (Nonfiction. 9-11)