Wombat Divine

A: Wombat Divine
B: Mem fox
C: Kerry Argent
D: Harcourt Brace & Company
E: Fiction, Animal Fiction,Picture Book
F: K-2.5

This is one of THE most adorable books I have read in a really long time!!


Wombat Divine is all about a little Wombat in Australia who just wants to be a part of the Nativity play. Christmas is his favorite holiday and now he is finally old enough to go and join his friends and be a part of the play. So he hurries over to audition to be in the play. All of his friends are there and he is so eager to get a part in the play. He tries many different parts but is either too big, to heavy, to short, to sleepy, too clumsy, to shortsighted and finally there were no parts that appeared to be available. He was really upset that he was not able to get a part in the play and was almost in tears when someone remembered that no one had been given the part of baby Jesus, so this was given to Wombat and he "was so dizzy with pride"!

I am not sure as to what the medium used in this book is but I talked to my roommate who is an art major and she said that it looked like mostly water color with maybe some guach(No clue how to spell it). For me the illustrations are what really makes this book pop for me. I suppose it is really the text with the illustrations that make it so wonderful. The majority of the book is single page style with each page showing a different scene that goes along with the text. I love the one when Wombat is trying to be Gabriel and they are hoisting him up, or trying, and it just won't work, the expressing on Wombats face is to die for(I tried to get a picture of it off the web but still have not found one). I love stories where the characters are animals and in this book that is all that is seen and they were painted to where they look exactly like they do in real life, despite the fact that they are putting on a play and wearing costumes.

One teaching connection would be to talk about how eagerly Wombat wanted to have a part in the play and it seemed that he was not fit to do anything in the play, but he kept trying and trying to do the best he could. You could point out how he kept trying and talk to the children about perseverance and to keep trying even if it seems like nothing will work out, something always works out you just need to keep trying and one day it will come.