Reading Wed Wabbit with the children’s book club at work made me question why I don’t pick up children’s literature to read more often.
The book follows Fidge, a young girl who becomes emotionally closed off after the death of her father. She carries a lot of resentment, and when her behaviour leads to the accidental hospitalisation of her four year old sister, Minnie, she is distraught. Trying to deal with these emotions through anger leads to Fidge, her stuck-up germophobe cousin, Graham, and a collection of plushies, being sucked into the fantasy Land of the Wimbley Woos, the setting of Minnie’s favourite bedtime story. But the story isn’t how Fidge remembers – the storybook lands are not happy and peaceful, but full of fear, and controlled by an evil dictator who sounds suspiciously like Minnie’s favourite stuffed animal…
This book is as insane as it sounds, but Lissa Evans writes it with such flair and wit that I found myself utterly engaged by the bizarreness, and invested in the future of Wimbley Land. Wimbley Land is populated by Wimbley Woos, all of which are different colours that represent their most prominent personality characteristic.
Yellow are timid, Blue are strong
Grey are wise and rarely wrong
Green are daring, Pink give cuddles
Orange are silly and get in muddles.
It was clever how the author wrote every single encounter with these details in mind, even down to the way the characters spoke. Wimbley Woos always speak in rhyme, but the greens were LOUD characters, and the text was printed to match. Wed Wabbit, the evil dictator, was even louder, and sometimes half a page was taken up by his booming voice! There were even some moments where I was laughing out loud in cafes because the comedy was brilliant.
The book also tackled some very serious issues. It looks at a society divided, at people oppressed by the labels they have been given. It also explores the experience of bereavement from a child’s perspective. This is maybe where this book is flawed. As a 20-something year old, Fidge’s grief really touched me, and I could understand the metaphors in place that helped her to overcome her anger. The younger readers in my book club didn’t really get it though, and I think it is because things like a bratty cousin’s transitional object being a talking carrot on wheels is something that only an adult can really understand – the kids just thought it was a bit weird.
Despite the confusion of my children’s book group, I personally thoroughly enjoyed the book, and was surprised the kids didn’t find it as funny and bonkers as I did!
★★★★★ (5/5)
