Unlike their cousins, the Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombat and the Common Wombat, the Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat is seriosuly endangered. There are only 113 Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombats living in the wild. In this delightful children’s book Jill Morris explores the plight of these creatures using a combination of fact and fiction.
Presented as a journal from the first person perspective of one the wombats, Male Number 25, the book explores the differences between the Northern Hairy-Nosed and its cousins, its habitat, the events which have led to its near-extinction and what is being done to save it.
Male 25 uses a variety of writing forms in his diary – a poem, charts, diagrams, recount and simple reporting of facts and is ably supported by the illustrations of Sharon Dye, who also uses a variety of techniques, including aged parchment backgrounds, botanical illustrations and full colour spreads.
The Wombat Who Talked to the Stars has won a swag of awards since it was first published in 1997, including the Excellence in Educational Publishing Award (1997), the Best Children’s Book in the Whitely Awards (1997) and a shortlisting for the Eve Pownall Award, 1998.
The Wombat Who Talked to the Stars is excellent nonfiction about a subject that should be important to all Australians.
The Wombat Who Talked to the Stars, by Jill Morris and Sharon Dye
Greater Glider, 1997, reprinted 2004