The Muddle-Headed Wombat facts for kids
First edition
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| Author | Ruth Park |
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| Illustrator | Noela Young |
| Country |  Australia |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction |
The Muddle-Headed Wombat is a much-loved fictional wombat character. He first appeared in radio shows and then in a series of popular children's books. These stories were written by the famous Australian author Ruth Park. Many people consider these books to be classic Australian children's literature.
Meet the Muddle-Headed Wombat
The Muddle-Headed Wombat books are about a funny wombat and his two best friends. One friend is a kind and sensible female mouse. The other is a proud, sometimes worried, male tabby cat. They simply call each other Wombat, Mouse, and Tabby. The idea for the Wombat character came from Ruth Park's daughter. She once said, "I don't think there's anyone in the world I'm smarter than."
Wombat often mixes up his words in a funny way. He uses malapropisms (using a wrong word that sounds similar) and spoonerisms (swapping the first sounds of words). For example, he might say treely ruly instead of really and truly. He also says lawn the mow instead of mow the lawn. He even calls Cinderella Cindergorilla!
Wombat owns a bicycle with bright red wheels. He is very proud of this bike. He even talks about it as if it were a person. Once, he complained that his bike bit him when he accidentally hurt himself trying to fix it.
The Book Series
The Muddle-Headed Wombat book series was published between 1962 and 1982. The first books were released by Educational Press Pty Ltd. They asked Ruth Park to write stories based on her radio show. Noela Young drew the pictures for these books. She was a talented artist who passed away in 2018.
Later, in 1971, another publisher called Angus and Robertson Pty Ltd took over the rights. They continued the series and reprinted the older books.
Here are some of the books in the series:
- The Muddle-Headed Wombat (1962)
- The Muddle-Headed Wombat on Holiday (1964)
- The Muddle-Headed Wombat in the Treetops (1965)
- The Muddle-Headed Wombat at School (1966)
- The Muddle-Headed Wombat in the Snow (1966)
- The Muddle-Headed Wombat on a Rainy Day (1969)
- The Muddle Headed Wombat in the Springtime (1970)
- The Muddle-Headed Wombat on the River (1970)
- The Muddle-Headed Wombat and the Bush Band (1973)
- The Muddle-Headed Wombat and the Invention (1975)
- The Muddle-Headed Wombat on Clean-Up Day (1976)
- The Adventures of the Muddle-Headed Wombat (1979)
- The Muddle-Headed Wombat (1979) - This book collected several earlier stories.
- More Adventures of the Muddle-Headed Wombat (1980)
- The Muddle-Headed Wombat is Very Bad (1981)
- The Muddle-Headed Wombat Stays at Home (1982)
Animated Film
In 1990, a short animated film based on the character was released in Ukraine. It was called "The Muddle-Headed Wombat" (Ukrainian: Безтолковий Вомбат). The film was directed by Serguei Kouchnerov and made at the Ukranimafilm studio.
