The author’s note at the end of the book urges people to donate to a wildlife charity if they wish to help after disasters, or get training in how to care for wild animals. The little wombat at the heart of the story survives.

That is, until human intervention delivers life saving food and water to the devastated fire grounds. When the fires have passed, they face starvation and thirst.

In The Fire Wombat, the terrifying fires drive many animals from their homes, some to shelter in a wombat burrow deep in the earth. She is passionate and vocal about the wildlife that shares her land, and has published many books about these animals, including her well loved Wombat series. Jackie lives in the Araluen Valley near Braidwood in southeastern NSW, an area that experienced those appalling fires during that summer. The Fire Wombat takes the trauma and devastation of the 2019/2020 summer bushfires across eastern Australia and crafts a gentle fable about how even the smallest of beings can survive with the support of others. There’s nothing new in this latest wombat diary, if you’ve read any of the others, but it’s another smile-sparking missive from the annals of a little being with simple tastes and beguiling determination.Īnica Boulanger-Mashberg is a freelance editor, writer, and reviewer, and has worked as a bookseller at The Hobart Bookshop for over 10 years.The wonderful Jackie French is back with another picture book, this one illustrated by Danny Snell. Whatley’s illustrations match the tone: sparse composition with little background reminds us that the story here is Mothball’s and what you see is what you get. Her voice is exactly what you would imagine from a stocky young wombat- Mothball knows her own mind and is a creature of few words. She plods along through her world, digging holes, ploughing through trifling obstacles like wooden doors, and generally sneaking her way into her humans’ (and our) hearts. When her favourite nibbles are not available, she chomps through all sorts of other things- socks, toilet paper, shoelaces-in her endless quest for carrots and grass and more carrots and more grass. In the now-familiar charming, chunky, persistent, steadfast wombat tone we have come to love, little orphaned Mothball is found and rescued, quickly embracing life with her humans, so long as grass and carrots are always plentiful and fresh. Says prequels are only for YA epics and fantasy novel franchises? Jackie French and Bruce Whatley have decided it’s time for us to learn the backstory of the protagonist of their wildly successful Diary of a Wombat series, which first hit our bookshelves 20 years ago.

Jackie french wombat