Erin's Reviews > Wombat, the Reluctant Hero

I'm not sure I could read this out loud without crying. The story itself is pretty innocuous. Wombat keeps things tidy, definitely notices when her neighbors do not, but dutifully springs to assist when it becomes evident that her neighbors are in distress. Drought is closely followed by wildfire, and Wombat's particular way of life enables her to offer assistance to her animal neighbors.

On the surface, it's just a nice community tale focused on being a generous and kind neighbor. No big deal.

And then the afterward explains that this story was inspired by the Australian wildfires in 2019 and that wild wombats actually were helping other animals access water and shelter. It's heartbreaking how simple acts of kindness and survival are no longer markers of humanity, and how human accelerated climate change creates the need for these animal acts of mutual survival. For some reason this sweet little story just hit really hard.