Sebastian Lives in a Hat - Hardcover

Catterwell, Thelma

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0916291308 ISBN 13: 9780916291303

Publisher: Kane Miller Book Pub, 1990

Synopsis

After the death of his mother, a baby wombat must live in a hat and is tenderly cared for by loving humans

About this title

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-K-- Sebastian is an orphaned baby wombat who is brought home by an unnamed narrator and raised in a brown knitted cap as a substitute for its mother's pouch. The illustrations are endearing. Sebastian is center stage on each page, and Argent's airbrushed paintings make him appear soft and lovable. The text, unfortunately, is not as strong. The large typeface detracts from the pictures and the writing is unclear and patronizing: "Sebastian's mother was killed by a car. But he lay safe in her pouch." The dead mother wombat is depicted--but nowhere is there an explanation of what a pouch is, or where it is, or how the baby could be alive in it when the mother is dead. " . . . After his feed he has a little job to do!" is the text beside a picture of Sebastian, held by human hands, urinating into a cup. At the end, nothing is explicitly said about releasing Sebastian when he matures, or even about the fact that wombats are wild animals that can't be kept as pets. The narrative seems geared to the very youngest audience, but so little is explained that only an adult, or a child who knows a lot about wombats, will make sense of it, and they will not appreciate the condescending style. Stick with Vaughan's Wombat Stew (Silver Burdett, 1986) and leave Sebastian in his hat. --JoAnn Rees, Sunnyvale Public Library, CA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Kane Miller Book Pub
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0916291308
• ISBN 13: 9780916291303
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Argent Kerry