Wombats at Camp and Whales in Baths

Posted on 29 November, 2014

The greatest gift my parents ever gave me was the love of reading. It is the avenue I use to escape after a hard day and the best way to end a great day. I love to share this gift with others, especially all the children that come into my life.

My sister-in-law shares my love of books and so it was inevitable that her children, Alyssa and Marco, would be book worms. Alyssa is seven, in Year 1 and reads at a Year 3 level. Marco is four (and a half which is very important), in pre-school and although he recognises simple words he isn’t yet reading independently. While we may be biased our family consider them both to be bordering on genius IQ, as I’m sure that many of your children are too!

When I received two children’s books from Allen & Unwin I knew that Alyssa and Marco would be the best kids to try out the books on, and with the promise of new books they were more than willing to volunteer!

Whale in the Bath by Kylie Westaway, Illustrated by Tom Jellett

Bruno can’t wash when there is a whale in the bath! Why won’t anyone believe him? An irresistibly sweet read-aloud story perfect for those imaginative 3-6 year olds and their parents.

‘Bruno, get in the bath!’
It’s bathtime, but there’s a whale in the tub and Bruno can’t get in! No one in his family believes him and Bruno keeps being sent back to the bathroom until, at last, Bruno and the whale work out a very splashy solution.

A wonderful story that humorously explores bathtime and a playful celebration of a child’s imagination.

Aimed at ages 3-6 Alyssa and I had a few giggles at the story and thought the illustrations were engaging. Alyssa reviewed The Whale in the Bath as “funny but a bit silly because there is no way a whale could ever fit in the bath. Also, the words were a bit easy but the pictures were really good”.

Alyssa said that Marco would like it better than her as he likes to tell fibs about silly things like whales in baths, and she was right. Marco declared it “the best book ever with the funniest pictures and a good story. Obviously the whale was not a whale shark because they can’t fit in baths but maybe other types of whales could.”

A great first book by new Australian author Kylie Westaway that would suit the earlier readers best. The words were simple enough that learners would recognise the words early on.

Wombats Go on Camp written and illustrated by Roland Harvey

The first in a fantastic series by a master of wit and fun, starring ten children and two teachers and the hilarious adventures they get up to on their first ever school camp.

Meet the Wombats. They are going on their first school camp ever, with their teachers Mrs Nott and Ms Annabel.

Naucia’s a bit posh, Audrey’s a literary genius, Hughie’s scared of nothing.

Ima loves baking, Ollie’s small and fast, and Sardinia does magic tricks.

Albert knows everything, Dante’s never without his ball, Ava wants to win.

Freddie has one eye, Alecia hates everything, and Horrie loves his pet rat (or is it an antechinus?).

Join the Wombats as they explore, build, cook, perform, climb, jump, scare each other silly and have the time of their lives.

‘The indomitable Roland Harvey manages to capture chaos and bring it in an orderly way into the pages of a picture book…a great class book and a fun book to read at home. Junior Books + Publishing

This is the book every child will choose when they are told they can only have one book to read before bed time. It is long with lots of words and lots of little pictures that kids will want to stop and look at every detail on every page. Anyone aiming to get a child in bed, story read and asleep in 10 minutes will understand the dilemma of them picking a great book but knowing it is going to take forever to get through!

Aimed at children aged 6-9 years of age, Alyssa was much more interested in this book. Each page has illustrations showing each character in a number of activities which encourages conversation about what things they can or can’t do.  A very Australian book with many native animals mentioned and Advance Australia Fair sung by the Wombat children makes this a story that young children will be able to relate their own school or camp experiences to.

While it didn’t hold Marco’s attention for very long Alyssa said it was “really, really good – better than the other one because there were more words which was good and also because I didn’t know some of the words and know I do know them.”

Whale in the Bath was rated 3/5 stars on the Taliano star rating system while Wombats Go On Camp was rated 4/5 stars.

Taliano Star Rating System (as decided by Alyssa and Marco Taliano)

5/5 stars – Best book ever written

4/5 stars – Very, very good book

3/5 stars – Pretty good book

2/5 stars – Not a very good book

1/5 stars – Definitely do not like this book