The Wandering Wombles

Elizabeth Beresford (author)

Bloomsbury, UK: March 2011; 222pp

ISBN: 9781408808337

Genres: adventure, classic, fantasy

Issues: change, environment, family, friendship

The Wombles of Wimbledon Common are unusual creatures. They hide from Human Beings but collect their rubbish (everything from bus tickets to money) to adapt, repair, reuse and recycle.

Bungo, Orinoco, Tomsk and Wellington are four of the younger Wombles whose duties including the daily clean-up of the Common. But when enormous trucks start travelling along the nearby road, causing the ground of the common around the burrow to shake – and subside – it seems that the four friends will be given a very different mission. Great Uncle Bulgaria, the leader of the Wimbledon Wombles, decides the Clan must move – preferably before their burrow falls in around their ears. Can Bungo, Orinoco, Tomsk and Wellington find a new home in time?

The gentle, good-humoured Wombles, with their endless curiosity, energetic natures and environmentally aware attitude are just as endearing today as they were when Elizabeth Beresford created them in the 1970s. Reissued in colourful new covers, the Wombles books are just as entertaining, just as inspiring, just as ingenious and amusing as they have always been, ready to meet another generation of younger readers and teach them the Womble's Way.

Highly recommended, especially for shared reading.