Once I Heard a Little Wombat

Renée Treml

Random House, 2015

24pp., board book, RRP $A14.99

9780857987396

 

Once I heard a sugar glider bump, bump, bump

Riding gentle breezes with each jump, jump, jump.

I called to little glider, “Won’t you stay, stay, stay?’

But little glider went along her way, way, way.

Little kangaroo would love someone to play with but each of the creatures she meets is too busy to stop.  Until little wombat comes stomp, stomp, stomping along.

Based on a traditional nursery rhyme, Renée Treml, the artist behind books like Colour for Curlews and The Great Garden Mystery, has created this delightful rhyming story for the very young which has great appeal.  As well as the rhythm and the rhyme which are so important for tiny tots to hear, her scratchboard illustrations introduce a range of baby Australian animals that will become so familiar to them as they grow older.  Perfect to read to a babe in arms, it also encourages the older child to interact with the text as they scritch and scratch, growl and prowl as each new creature is introduced.

Parents of the very young would love to know about this book so they can add something new to the nightly read-along session, and parents-to-be would love to receive it as part of Baby’s first library.