The Wombats Go Wild for Words

by Beth Ferry, Lori Nichols (illustrator)

A trio of wandering wombats with a passion for words inspire an enthusiastic duckling to transform her town from dull to dazzling in this delectable picture book that shares with children the magic of words.

Evergreen Forest is a very nice forest, with very nice trees and very nice animals. It’s a rather dull place, but no one says a word about it. In fact, no one says very many words at all! And therein lies the problem.

Until the word-loving wandering wombats arrive.

They use words like enthusiastic and splendiferous, ready to turn ordinary into EXTRAordinary! With twinkles in their eyes and words on their minds, the word wombats come to transform Evergreen Forest. 

At first, the animals of Evergreen Forest are…confused. All except for a curious duckling who eagerly devours every noun, adjective, and verb that she hears. Slowly, the inhabitants of Evergreen Forest become mesmerized as they realize that words are not just fun, they are inspiring.

New York Times bestselling author Beth Ferry and acclaimed illustrator Lori Nichols captivate readers with this dazzling, magnificent, and triumphant tale about discovering the power of words and the ways they connect and empower us.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Humor, Childrens, Words, Storytime, Writing

40 pages, Hardcover

First published June 17, 2025

About the author

Beth Ferry is the author of the picture books Stick and Stone and Land Shark. Her family has cared for myriad pets, including two land sharks, a hedgehog, a blue-tongued skink, and a heap of hamsters, but her absolutely perfect pet is an English bulldog named Winston. She lives in New Jersey.

Reviews

[Shanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book about wombats who spice up the lives of those around them by teaching them new words!

Mia’s 2nd Year of Books: Day 186

[Srujan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me and my two mini-verbivores ( a term we learnt thanks to this book ) loved it! Those 5 stars are so well deserved. Everything you expect from a Beth Ferry book and more. If you have a little one who is always excited about learning new words, this book is for you. A big thumbs up!

[Mailaenderli · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a clever book for synonyms.

[YSBR · Rating 4 out of 5]

This entertaining and goofy story introduces a “meandering” and “enthusiastic” trio of “marsupials” (also known as wombats) to the inhabitants of the very nice, very ordinary, and slightly dull Evergreen Forest. A little yellow duckling finds the visitors and their take on fancy words enchanting. “Essential! Magnificent! Transformative!” the wombats announce (all of which appear in a large, hand drawn, and colorful font). Under the wombats’ influence, the porcupines swap “hot” for “sweltering” and “thirsty” for “parched”. The turtles switch “tired” for “weary” and the duckling’s family opts for “peckish”, “famished”, and “ravenous” instead of plain old hungry. By the end of the story, the duckling wants to be just like the wombats and announces her intention to write a “duck-tionary” and become a “verbivore”! Cute, colorful illustrations will help this language lesson go down easily. Pen-and-ink, watercolor, and acrylic artwork create a fanciful and lush backdrop while the cartoonish animal characters have just enough human attributes to be entertaining and obviously fictional: one wombat carries an overstuffed blue pocketbook with writing supplies while the thirsty porcupines drink out of tall lemonade glasses. At the back of the book, readers will find entries from the duck-tionary, which provide definitions for about 40 of the wombats’ 10-dollar words. As an added bonus, the dust jacket can be removed and flipped over to reveal a large vertical poster displaying some of the definitions (not possible for library copies, but perhaps a classroom would find it useful). Link to complete review: https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com/2...

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The trio of wombats in this picture book [3.5 for me! are my kind of animals. Word-lovers, they share the joy of unique words with a duckling who happens to be in their path, changing her life. She's so enthused by their energy, intensity, and vocabulary, that she just has to share these new words with her family. Initially reluctant and definitely confused, they eventually succumb to the delights of these wonderful words, and the wombats head on their way, eager to spread word joy to the next animal they happen to meet. There are clever puns ["duck-tionary" and "verbivore" (for instance) that will entertain young readers. With its colorful illustrations filled with trees, water, and forest scenes, created with pen-and-ink, acrylic, watercolor, and digital techniques, this picture book would be a great resource and example, for budding writers, writers' workshop or a short lesson on word choice.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three exuberant word-loving wombats meander into a forest to empower the unsuspecting animals with splendiferous words. Their enthusiasm is infectious and soon the animals are all experimenting with the sounds and feel of their extraordinary new vocabulary. The plot of the book is slim, but the cheerful illustrations are action-packed, with words bouncing all over, and rejuvenated creatures enjoying their newly discovered power. The novel vocabulary words stand out in a bold uppercase font. There is a “Duck-tionary” at the end that defines all of the colorful new words introduced. This delightful read aloud makes a great springboard for young wordsmiths to spice up their own writing. It is easy to imagine numerous follow-up activities in an elementary classroom.

Recommended for ages 5-8 by the SEPA Book Reviewers

[Roben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interested in increasing your vocabulary? Adding more zest to your descriptions? Becoming a verbivore? Track down these wacky wombats!

Evergreen Forest is a nice place though perhaps a bit dull - until the wombats arrive! The wombats were happy. Cheerful. Hospitable. And verbose! They loved words and wanted to share them. Fortunately they were greeted by a young duckling who was simply starving for a new vocabulary.

The wombats help the porcupines, the very colorful turtles and even little duckling's family learn lots of new words - nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs... so many new words to learn and share!

Little Duckling took all her new words and created a.... duck-tionary! Which is included at the back of the book.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wombats excite a duckling with words that are captivating, fun, and life changing. That duckling shares her word joy to the great satisfaction of the wombats who have improved lives in this community with word choices that are exuberant and exhilarating.

I cannot wait to share this book aloud with my students! I run the spelling bee in my two elementary schools and I plan to share it first with my 5th graders. It will help with our preparation to find the joy in words before we have to spell them, I hope!

This one will be right there with some others I share to find word joy: Walk in the Words by Hudson Talbot, The Word Collector by Peter Reynolds, Max's Words by Kate Banks and Wordy Birdy by Tammi Sauer.

[Dylan Teut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where was this book when I was leading writer's workshop for first graders? We found ourselves regularly doing "word swaps" for looking at alternative ways to express common language. We would highlight such words in books, and I would encourage students to let such words drip into their writing for the day. This book takes that concept and makes it more concrete for young readers and writers who view words and vocabulary in an abstract manner. I would recommend this book to teachers of all ages and use it to encourage students to use rich vocabulary- in writing and even throughout content areas as they explore new subjects and new concepts.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welcome to Evergreen Forest where the forest and everything in it is...well, nice. The forest animals were not big on developing their vocabularies. However, that changed when the Word Loving Wombats came to visit. The dropped words like essential, magnificent and transformative! When the turtles complained of being tired the wombats suggested words such as exhausted and weary. A little duckling quickly becomes enamored of the wombats and follows them around as they drop fabulous words throughout the forest. By the end of the wombats visit the duckling has earned a badge as a "honorary word wombat" and is quite pleased with themselves.

A fantastic story. Recommended.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A high energy picture book about three enthusiastic, meandering wombats who visit the nice, very ordinary and rather dull Evergreen Forest where no one really has much to say about anything. Then the wombats show up with a dazzling vocabulary that enlivens the entire forest. For instance, instead of being hungry, very hungry, and super hungry, there are now peckish, famished, and ravenous. The animals in Evergreen Forest are rejuvenated and the little duckling, the first to meet the marsupials, collects all the words to create a duck-tionary. This is an exuberant story that will leave readers chortling and eager to spread their verbivore wings.

[Kiera Beddes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A trio of word-loving wombats take the Evergreen Forest by storm and transform the forest creatures’ vocabularies with one delicious word after another. Join Little Duckling as they all go wild for words!

I love this book. As an ELA teacher and an avid picture book reader, this book is essential for any picture book library. I could see this being used at any level of ELA class when you talk about the power – and pleasure! – of words. I thought the art was adorable, the story was cute, and the words used were amazing. The front cover also turns into a classroom poster, which is adorable, and goes to show that anyone can become a word wombat.

[Becky B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Duckling lives in a nice forest with a nice family and everything is very nice. That is until the wombats come to town and infuse the forest with a vivacious variety of vibrantly descriptive vocabulary.

This would be such a fun way to introduce a language arts class about using more descriptive words and infusing writing with a dose of variety in word choice. Best of all, though, is that it is an entertaining story all on its own and kids will not necessarily realize they are learning something.

[Ardin Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read this one for storytime today, and the kids had a blast! Our favourite word was hullabaloo, and our favourite part was when the little duck (Darcy?) said, "I'm still hungry!"
The kids had so much fun with this book. I would definitely recommend this for teachers, librarians and anyone looking to add some fun new words to their vocabulary.
Definitely a book we'll be pulling out again with the kids during future weekend storytimes.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, this book is seriously adorable! There's a "nice" forest full of "nice" animals and "nice" trees and everything is fine. Then one day, a trio of wombats with a passion for words comes along and inspires a young duckling to view his nice little world with brand new, splendiferous, delightful eyes! The illustrations are perfection and the text is so much fun! This is a great story time group read aloud.

[Kelly {SpaceOnTheBookcase] · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wombats Go Wild for Words by Beth Ferry & Lori Nichols is a funny book about three wandering wombats that introduced vocabulary words to the animals they meet along their travels. A highlight is the poster under the cover which highlights the words used throughout the book.

Thank you Random House Kids for the gifted copy.

[Anne Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

My family has really enjoyed this book! I am quite a fan of words, and regularly and intentionally try to increase my kids vocabulary. The book was really cute, well done, and has my kids asking, “What does this word mean?” Which I’m very happy about & it has drawn attention to the fact I regularly use the word lollygag and hopefully they know what it means now haha.

[Bethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love wombats, especially those with an expanded vocabulary! Duckling also becomes enamored of them and begins collecting words for her duck-tionary (which is in the back) Look for a few bad puns - looking at you verbivore - and the fact that the usage of wonderful words is even more delicious than carrot cake!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really cute book to have kids start thinking about word choices. Wombats trek through the land showing the other creatures there are other ways to state how they are feeling. The book is entertaining and the illustrations are wonderful. It is about loving words and word play!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wombats move into the woods and teach all the animals some new vocab for the words they already know. A great way to show kids new vocab and get them to see there are many words that mean the same thing. Good for schools/teachers.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute book that introduces lots of new big words, but I'm not sure I really understand the point of the story. Basically, a trio of wombats travels through a forest, encounter a duck, use a lot of big words, and then go on their merry way. The end. So what? It's cute, sure, but I wanted more.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most delightful book all about the power of strong, beautiful language and magical words! Perfect book for a lesson in using "power" words over "average" vocabulary. Fun, silly, and wonderful. I loved it!

[Kate M. Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack borrowed this book from the library. I picked it because we love words and wombats, as Dada is from Australia. It was super cute, and he loved all the animals and the big, fun words they learned. It’s one of my favorite children’s books we’ve read, but I am an author and a word nerd. 😂

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

An early reader will definitely need help with this one, but it’s nice it has a glossary at the end.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book. I'm excited to read it and create a wombat badge for the kids.

[Emily Haage · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5?

Fun read to introduce new vocabulary words. Could also use with older students to imrpove their writing word choices...

[Y.Poston]

Love this book of word play!!!!
Delightful illustrations and engaging adventure

[Theodore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book about words!

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable!

Some word loving wombats teach the other animals of the forest some splendiferous new words!
So cute!

[Eloise Willow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that they give baby duck a patch.