Wombats Are Pretty Weird: A (Not So) Serious Guide

by Abi Cushman, Abi Cushman (Illustrator)

Overview

Wombats might be pretty weird, but they’re pretty awesome, too! Wombats Are Pretty Weird is funny, kid-friendly, and informative and features sidebars, comic panels, extensive back matter, and a map. Acclaimed author-illustrator Abi Cushman’s nonfiction debut contains everything anyone could ever possibly want to know about wombats!

Wombats are elusive, burrowing marsupials. Their teeth never stop growing, they have backward-facing pouches, and they’re the only animal to have cube-shaped poop. And if you ask their snake friend, Joey, those aren’t the only things that are weird about wombats!

Abi Cushman’s Wombats Are Pretty Weird contains informative, expressive, and funny illustrations and offers an entertaining blend of narration, sidebars, speech balloons, and dialogue between Joey the snake and the wombats he meets in the wild. A refreshing departure from traditional informational books, Wombats Are Pretty Weird is a child-friendly guide to understanding the weird and wonderful world of wombats.

Features extensive back matter, including a glossary.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063234437
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/23/2023
Series:	A (Not So) Serious Guide
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	490,466
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Abi Cushman made her picture book debut with Soaked!, a Kids’ Indie Next List Top 10 pick. She has worked as a web designer and runs two popular websites of her own: My House Rabbit, a pet rabbit care site, and Animal Fact Guide, which was named a “Great Website for Kids” by the American Library Association. She is also the author of Wombats Are Pretty Weird and lives with her family in Niantic, Connecticut.

Abi Cushman made her picture book debut with Soaked!, a Kids’ Indie Next List Top 10 pick. She has worked as a web designer and runs two popular websites of her own: My House Rabbit, a pet rabbit care site, and Animal Fact Guide, which was named a “Great Website for Kids” by the American Library Association. She is also the author of Wombats Are Pretty Weird and lives with her family in Niantic, Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

[An] informative field guide that professes not to take itself too seriously . . . Adorable, cartoonish illustrations of all three kinds of wombat, a snake sidekick named Joey (just like a baby wombat), and speech-bubble dialogue lend a layer of humor and reinforce the concepts introduced by the text." — Booklist

“Cushman combines clear, cartoonlike digital illustrations with a lucid and humorous narrative to introduce young readers to wombats. . . . The chatty text covers wombats’ herbivorous diet, their cube-shaped poop, the fact that their teeth never stop growing, and their burrow homes. Conversational balloons add information with a touch of humor . . . Appended with basic scientific facts, such as the size and weight of all three species; a glossary; and suggestions for further inquiry. . . . Entertaining and informative.” — Horn Book Magazine

From the Publisher

2023-02-08
An introduction to the Australian wombat, delivered with humor and occasional interruptions from a snake.

The snake from Cushman’s Animals Go Vroom! (2021) barges in to add to the fun of this collection of facts about wombats. A fairly straightforward exposition, offered in relatively simple sentences, is accompanied by humorous speech-bubble commentary by the wombat, other marsupials, and the snake. (The snake is the only animal not identified in the backmatter, where Cushman has included a variety of other Australian animals, inviting readers to find them in earlier spreads.) These googly-eyed anthropomorphic animals, drawn with pencil and digitally colored, are shown in fanciful day and nighttime scenes. Often there are cutaway views showing these nocturnal burrowers’ underground activities. The narrative begins by defining marsupialand pointing out an important characteristic of wombats—they can be elusive. It also describes where they live; when they’re active; the differences among species; their backward-facing pouches and tiny, nearly helpless babies; diet; physical adaptations including ever growing teeth and an armored backside; burrows; and, most importantly, their poop. Sidebars provide a more detailed definition of a marsupial, a map, a description of a wombat baby’s early life, and information on how their poop becomes cube shaped. This last explanation will probably be the highlight of most readers’ experience—something they won’t forget. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An engaging mix of facts and fancy. (facts about various wombat species, photos, glossary, further reading) (Informational picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews