Wibbly Wobbly Street

Trudie Trewin (text)

Cheryl Orsini (illus)

Scholastic Press, Australia: 2010

ISBN: 9781741695618

Genres: allegory, picture book

Issues: community, differences, tolerance

Squareton is an orderly, neat and appearance-conscious community. Its streets are straight, its squares are square, its houses uniform. Except, that is, Wibbly Wobbly Street:‘Wibbly Wobbly Street wound up and down, thin and out, right and left and everywhere in between. It was a peculiar street full of peculiar happenings.'

Unimpressed by its oddities, the town council decides that Something Must Be Done and the street-straightener arrives to pull this curvy street back into line. But not everything wants to be straight and Wibbly Wobbly Street resists strongly. Will it survive the pressures brought to bear or will the deliciously different street with Attitude be forced to conform?

Very much a story about society's tendency to object to those who are different in any way, Wibbly Wobbly Street is an affirmation of the value of all those who are non-conformists - and is therefore perfect for gifted individuals, who invariably feel slightly isolated. The language is full of word play that will delight those with a quirky sense of humour, as well as packed with interesting vocabulary that tastes good in the mouth and sounds fantastic when read aloud. Orsini's illustrations add a slightly manic edge to Wibbly Wobbly Street's character and readers will delight in finding such oddities as a person driving a full bath around the street's curving peregrinations. Great fun as well as conveying a very important truth, Wibbly Wobbly Street is a celebration of eccentricity.