LitPick Review
Wombats go camping is about two friends going camping together. Bert is an outdoorsy guy and is planning a rustic camping trip. Then there’s Pickles, who thinks they are going glamping, but he is in for a big surprise. Pickles and Bert are setting up the campsite, and they come across a baby koala and need to help it find its mama. Baby kola tells them that its mama is in the same cave as a big scary monster. Will they be able to overcome their fears and bring baby kola back to its mama?
Opinion:
Bert is your rustic outdoorsy camper ready to take Pickels on a camping trip in the woods, cooking at a bonfire, eating beans, and sleeping under the stars. Pickles packs as if they are going on a glamping trip with lots of extra things and dressed like he is going to a resort. These two characters are very relatable. They even remind me of my family verses my friend's family. I think the author might have written this story based on a similar friendship she has with someone. In the beginning before the story starts, she wrote “It’s always an adventure with you, best friend." This book shows kids that you can be really good friends with someone totally different from you and still have a memorable time. You can even learn something new from one another. Just because they do things differently doesn’t mean they aren’t the right way, it’s just different.
The illustrations are well done. I like how the characters are a colorful blue and purple. The author uses a different font for sounds that are happening in the story. The eyes on all the characters in the story really show a lot of emotions! I really like this because not only does it help the story, it also helps children read emotions on faces, which is a skill they are in the process of learning.
I showed my 5-year-old daughter this book since she’s in the lower age group for this comic, and she enjoyed looking at the pictures. It took about three sittings to actually read it though with her. Her favorite part was the suspense of seeing the monster that lived in the same cave as mama koala. The colorful images were great for my daughter. She was able to understand what was going on, not being able to read the words, which I think I awesome.
Overall, I would suggest this book to the age range 5-8. This would be a good book for storytime, reading at school, getting ready for a camping trip, overcoming a fear, and doing the right thing, even if you don't really want to. The book flows easily, has cartoon-like illustrations, and really reminds me of a newspaper style comic, just longer. Enjoy!
