This richly illustrated picture book called my name as soon as I saw it on the shelf. It must have had something to do with the extremely cute wombat face on the cover.
Wombat loves to dig really deep holes, climb inside, and think. On this particular day, he did just that, and started having thoughts. He wondered – why is the sky blue? Why wasn’t he a kangaroo?
When he was done with his pondering, he came out of his hole to discover that his mother was nowhere to be seen. He introduced himself to a kookaburra, and then to a wallaby. They each compared the things they liked to do, and discovered that they were very different creatures indeed.
Wombat’s search for his mother continued, and he met a possum who hung upside down with a long tail, and an emu, who could run around in crazy circles. He also met a boy, and a koala. But none of them were like him – they could all do so many things he couldn’t. All he could do was dig.
Finally he decided to take a nap – it’s very tiring, looking for your mother. When he woke up, she still was nowhere to be seen. Maybe if he climbed a tree, he’d be able to spot her, but still no luck.
He did see something, though – a fire! He scampered down his tree and began to dig. All the animals started to run, shouting, “Fire!” But Wombat kept on digging.
“What are you doing?” the animals asked.
He explained that the fire was coming faster than the other animals could run, but if they all burrowed in the earth, they would be safe. Sure enough, the fire blew over the top of them, but they were safe down in the hole.
Once the danger was passed, the animals wanted to help Wombat just like he’d helped them, so they all spread out to help him find his mother, and they were reunited once again.
This story showed how we all have our strengths. Yours might be different from mine, but they’re all valuable.
(This book was published in 1999 by Candlewick Press and illustrated by Christian Birmingham.)
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The Picture Books of Barbara M. Joose