Batter Up Wombat

"Batter Up Wombat" by Helen Lester. Illustrated by Lynn Munsinger. Sandpiper Press, 2008. We were at an Italian restaurant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, when Uncle Sean asked, "What is a wombat?" Seven year-old Tabitha answered, "It's a marsupial". "A marsupial?" "Yes, an animal that keeps its babies in a pouch. Most of them are from Australia". And that little conversation was the impetus for Grandma Barbara to purchase "Batter Up Wombat" for Tabitha. The book is brightly illustrated, even though I do not think that a wombat really wears clothes and is as big as he illustrated. The arrival of this Australian seemed, however, to be exactly what the "Champs" needed as these animals were at the bottom of The North American Animal League. Of course, they mistook the wombat's accent and thought he was a "Wham Bat", the hitter the team needed to get out of the League's cellar. They begin to train the Australian Wombat for American baseball, and the play on words and the illustrations are hilarious. A homonym is a word that is often spelled the same way, perhaps pronounced the same, but with different meanings. In this book, the author plays with homonyms, with, for example, a foul ball being illustrated as a chicken ...a hen...which is, of course, a fowl. This confuses the Australian wombat, but is a learning opportunity for the young reader. True, home plate is sort of a china plate, but you rarely step on a plate, and this team seldom enough gets to tag home plate on a home run. All of this continues throughout the game, and then the wombat gets his turn to hit! And, the ending is entirely unexpected, but the wombat is the hero! Great book!

Got it for grandson. Bought lots of books for 3 grandsons this Christmas. This one is the favorite.

It's a new baseball season and the Champs have new uniforms and new determination - even if they did finish last in the series last season. But when Wombat wanders onto the field on opening day, the Champs are in for a big surprise - and younger readers will wind Lynn Munsinger's drawings hilarious and engaging in this story of a wombat's participation. Lester L. Laminack's JAKE'S 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL receives Judy Love's drawings and tells of the surprises being planned for the 100th day of school. Jake's planning on showing off his big project of 100 photos - but when the day arrives he rushes out without his project. Can he participate when he's forgotten the best idea of all? Kids in grades 3-4 will relate to the story and will applaud the surprise ending.

It's a new baseball season and the Champs have new uniforms and new determination - even if they did finish last in the series last season. But when Wombat wanders onto the field on opening day, the Champs are in for a big surprise - and younger readers will wind Lynn Munsinger's drawings hilarious and engaging in this story of a wombat's participation.