The Snow Wombat

by Susannah Chambers, Mark Jackson (Illustrations)

It's a big journey through the snow for a little wombat, meeting animals, birds, and people along the way. . . but there's no place like home! A heartwarming story set in the Australian High Country.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2016

Reviews

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow this review got forgotten.
A charming book beautifully illustrated

[Frey · Rating 5 out of 5]

gorgeous art and a sweet exploration of the high country through the eyes of one of our most endearing aussie natives, the wombat xx

[Jennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a delightful, deceptively simple tale of a wombat going home to his/her warm burrow in the snow covered mountains of the Austrlian High Country. Susannah Chambers has used text sparingly to create a rhythmic flow that encourages young children to complete each stanza with the missing word that usually names a body part of the wombat. Illustrator, Mark Jackson has done a superb job of presenting a pristine, snow covered environment that looks and feels cold but also fun - no one here is shivering and miserable. The bold double page spreads feature the wombat and other creatures - native, introduced and human - accurately but also endearingly portrayed with word art included to accentuate the descriptive words.

The end papers provide a trail map of wombat's journey home that cleverly names each location in the story to connect the animals passed along the journey.

Shortlisted for the 2017 CBCA Book of the Year: Early Childhood.

[Educateempower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Open The Snow Wombat by Susannah Chambers and go on a wintry walk in the Australian Alpine to discover how the environment changes when it is covered in snow.

The young reader will delight in the map drawn on the end pages and the names of the different places the wombat visits. You can spend time searching each illustration drawn beautifully by Mark Jackson to find different Australian animals who also live in the snow and the various plants and trees that can survive the freezing temperatures.

Repetition and rhyme have been used throughout the story, encouraging young readers to read along and guess which word might come next.

We loved reading this story and had a lot of fun re creating the map, spotting feral and Australian animals and making our own puppets to reenact the story.

The Snow Wombat was SHORT-LISTED: CBCA Book of the Year, Early Childhood, 2017.

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[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for Children's Book Council of Australia book awards 2017.
Beautifully illustrated Early Childhood rhyming tale about winter in the Australian High Country.
Incorporates the added suspense having to turn the page to reveal the rhyming word ......so children can guess and call out the answer....as if they are reading.

[Terresa Wellborn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent balance of spare, rhyming prose and wintery illustrations. Perfect cozy wombat story for toddler & preK storytimes.

Themes: wombats, snow, nature
Ages: toddler - 1st grade
Pub year: 2016

[Neeli · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations and storyline is captivating for pre-schoolers. Ideal for a winter storytime session.

[Amy Hurrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gorgeous little story that captures the awesome character of wombats and the magical beauty of the Australian snowy mountains.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and cuddly.

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing is gorgeous, and the illustrations are divine. It's perfect :-)

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple story about snow with predictive rhymes set in the high country of Australia, with beautiful illustrations of a very cute wombat.

[Tony Braithwaite · Rating 3 out of 5]

My youngest grandson, enjoyed reading this book when he was in primary school.

This book received a short-listed book award in a Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) children’s book award.
Usually, Australian story picture books about wombats, show them in the dry arid Australian environment. This book reveals the opposite weather season of winter snow in the mountainous Australian Great Dividing Range.
In this book, a wombat shares his winter adventures with different animals, birds and humans. Even though the wombat eventually climatises to his winter environment, he longs for a warmer place that he calls home just like bears enjoy hibernating in their winter cave.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly simple rhyming story about a wombat in the snow. I read this as a introductory pairing to the Kate Messner's Over and Under the Snow. Lovely pairing and great introduction that helped my students make connections and build understanding.