ISBN: 9781760113810

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Imprint: A & U Children

June 2016

RRP $24.99

Those of us in tropical Queensland rarely, if ever, get to experience the High Country under its wintery blanket of snow.  I was hoping to take Small there these holidays to visit friends, snow and wombats but alas! The expense of plane fares was too much for our budget.

At least we will be able to have a vicarious experience as we follow a joyful young wombat gambolling and rolling in a very snowy expanse.

Little ones will love the rhyming text (though I will be interested to see how many will predict that ‘bum’ will rhyme with ‘gums’!) which spreads over pages allowing plenty of opportunity to guess what is coming up next.

Although the terrain may be unfamiliar to many children they will readily identify this as an Australian landscape with recognisable road signs and vegetation and animals. The endpapers are a gorgeous map of Wombat’s meandering and are going to be absolutely fabulous for my new unit with Year 3 looking at fictional maps!

To my mind this is a must have both for those kids who live in this area (which it seems rarely features in children’s books) and also those who never get to put on a jumper!

An absolute cracker of a read aloud with beautiful text and illustrations as well, I highly recommend it for readers of Prep age up to around Year 3 (or beyond!).