Some may be batty about bats, but I am absolutely ‘wombattty’ about wombats! I love all wombats, but my very best favourite is Mothball. She is wonderful, absolutely charming, very smart—but best of all she is fun.
Author Jackie French and illustrator Bruce Whatley introduced her to the world in 2002. It was love at first sight…at least on my part.
Now, on Mothball's part... She is a wombat and wombats make up their own minds. It wouldn’t matter what anybody else might think of me; and it wouldn't matter to her whether I was rich or royal. She would decide what she thought of me... but I hope she would like me.
Aslan is not a tame lion. And Mothball is not a tame wombat. Mothball is a unique individual—she may happily live with people and other animals but she will never be subject to them.
Real wombats sleep and scratch and dig and Mothball is a real wombat. The Velveteen Rabbit became real because he was loved. Mothball is loved, but she was real before she was loved. The Muddle-Headed Wombat is not real. I mean no discredit to Ruth Park, but wombats do not wear clothes and are never ever muddle-headed! Mothball is not the product of Jackie’s imagination—the Mothball books are the product of real-life experiences—the relationship between Mothball and Jackie and the ‘magic’ partnership between Jackie and Bruce.
Mothball is a wombat of few words. Simple, but well-chosen. She is not fussed about sentence structure or grammar. Mothball does not worry about what people think of her—she just gets on with life... sleeping, scratching; crunching carrots and enthusiastically digging. She doesn’t worry about being the best mother in the wombat world—but she is patient with Baby Wombat and models for him what being a wombat is about. She doesn’t worry about curriculum or curriculums or curricula which are wordy and impossible to fulfil—but she goes to school and she learns; she has fun and she looks forward to the next day.
***
‘But what about me Mum? I sleep and I scratch and I dig really, really big holes!’ says Chewy. ‘Don’t you love me anymore?’
‘Of course, I love you, Chewy. And you know that I think you are the very best doggy-woggy in the whole wide world. I love you as a doggy-woggy. But Mothball is my very best favourite wombat and I love her, too. And… this is FACT… I would much rather share the house with you than with any wombat, even one as wonderful as Mothball!’
***
If you haven’t read
Jackie French’s website is: www.jackiefrench.com
Author Jackie French and illustrator Bruce Whatley introduced her to the world in 2002. It was love at first sight…at least on my part.
Now, on Mothball's part... She is a wombat and wombats make up their own minds. It wouldn’t matter what anybody else might think of me; and it wouldn't matter to her whether I was rich or royal. She would decide what she thought of me... but I hope she would like me.
Aslan is not a tame lion. And Mothball is not a tame wombat. Mothball is a unique individual—she may happily live with people and other animals but she will never be subject to them.
Real wombats sleep and scratch and dig and Mothball is a real wombat. The Velveteen Rabbit became real because he was loved. Mothball is loved, but she was real before she was loved. The Muddle-Headed Wombat is not real. I mean no discredit to Ruth Park, but wombats do not wear clothes and are never ever muddle-headed! Mothball is not the product of Jackie’s imagination—the Mothball books are the product of real-life experiences—the relationship between Mothball and Jackie and the ‘magic’ partnership between Jackie and Bruce.
Mothball is a wombat of few words. Simple, but well-chosen. She is not fussed about sentence structure or grammar. Mothball does not worry about what people think of her—she just gets on with life... sleeping, scratching; crunching carrots and enthusiastically digging. She doesn’t worry about being the best mother in the wombat world—but she is patient with Baby Wombat and models for him what being a wombat is about. She doesn’t worry about curriculum or curriculums or curricula which are wordy and impossible to fulfil—but she goes to school and she learns; she has fun and she looks forward to the next day.
***
‘But what about me Mum? I sleep and I scratch and I dig really, really big holes!’ says Chewy. ‘Don’t you love me anymore?’
‘Of course, I love you, Chewy. And you know that I think you are the very best doggy-woggy in the whole wide world. I love you as a doggy-woggy. But Mothball is my very best favourite wombat and I love her, too. And… this is FACT… I would much rather share the house with you than with any wombat, even one as wonderful as Mothball!’
***
If you haven’t read
- The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis,
- The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams and
- The Adventures of the Muddle-headed Wombat by Ruth Parks
- Diary of a Wombat,
- Baby Wombat’s Week,
- Christmas Wombat and
- Wombat goes to school
Jackie French’s website is: www.jackiefrench.com