The Wild Wombat: Playing on Rumor and Fear

There is much to like about this picture book, even before interacting with the story:  expansive double-page horizontal spreads with full-bleed saturated color, shifting perspectives and scales, mildly comical/caricatured animals with expressive features, and suddenly-appearing monstrous figures popping from behind and between clever gatefold pages. What's not to like?

Minedition, May 2019

THE WILD WOMBAT, written by Udo Weigelt and illustrated by Melanie Freund, offers a rambunctious twist on the well-known "telephone game" premise played out among zoo animals. If you know in advance what a wombat looks like, you can pick up on the humor of this premise from the cover-- or not. Did you miss those menacing eyes peering from inside the crate?
As a former parrot owner I can attest that it's true to the nature of these birds that parrots jabber and repeat what they've heard (mindlessly?) delivered with the know-it-all vibe of this parrot with wings-on-hips.
From initially overhearing the zookeepers report: "...the wild wombat is coming. ... We must be very careful with him," parrot launches a chain of misconstrued messages and mis-drawn conclusions. Each critter escalates the mistaken assumptions to another level of contrived details and resulting fear. Once Wombat arrives the real worry is that no one from the zoo is willing to meet him, let alone befriend him. They are all hiding in fear!
Parrot, oblivious to the impact of his role in fanning the flames of fear, puzzles over why no one has arrived. He muses, "I know I mentioned that you were coming..."

There is a single concluding page providing actual facts about wombats, after which readers will want to return to the start and stay alert for additional mistakes and asides. Kids will also love the half-page reveals on the monsters that often result when imaginations run wild. There's plenty of color and characters and confusion to win over audiences, but I hope the book will also lead to some discussions about the potential harm done by jumping to conclusions, judging others, and isolating ourselves in silos of anxiety rather than sharing concerns and problems-solving together. 

This was originally published in Europe, where fears and false assumptions currently percolate through society. I hope that there, and now here in the states, in English, this entertaining and engaging book might trigger some mindful conversations about exploring and defusing confusions and anxiety, and giving every newcomer a chance.