Reviews

Gr 4-6-- The curious nature of the Australian wombat, a marsupial and one of the world's largest burrowing mammals, is expertly delineated in this introduction. Sharp full-color photos appear on almost every page; many are close-ups. Two maps, shaded to indicate distribution patterns throughout Australia and Tasmania, are also included. Succinctly written and well organized, this title conveys a real sense of how wombats live. While this book has some minor flaws (the average weight of the animals is not given, and not all of the photos have captions identifying the species shown), it is the most thorough introduction to the wombat for this age level. Stone's Wombats (Rourke, 1990) is a superficial introduction offering little detail on the animals' characteristics or behavior. --Karey Wehner, San Francisco Public Library