ONCE I HEARD A LITTLE WOMBAT
by Renée Treml ; illustrated by Renée Treml
The Australian Outback springs to life.
Many of the animals Australia has to offer come out to play in this board book. A wombat, a bilby, a puggle (platypus), and others are monochromatically illustrated in realistic yet adorable fashion against colorful backdrops. The text incorporates repeated words to encourage interaction from little readers. For example, “Once I heard a little bilby scratch, scatch, scratch / looking for a bug or grub to snatch, snatch, snatch” accompanies the image of a cute bilby scratching away at the dirt to uncover an unfortunate grub, with the verbs printed in a playful typeface and colored ink. The book is a cute exercise, but it overstays its welcome, changing highlighted words from verbs to nouns here and there in a way that will have a few little readers scratching their heads. How exactly should readers “way, way, way,” or “day, day, day”? The animal enthusiasts in the audience will be happy to overlook this curiosity, as the book features Australian animals far beyond the usual cats, dogs, cows, and chickens that North American board books usually traffic in.
A passable visit to the bush.
(Board book. 1-3)