The Wobby Wallaby and the Absolute Bandicoot

This is a story for the ones that struggle to hop in straight lines. Those distractable ones that can’t quite focus on one thing at a time, who hop here and there, follow their impulses instead of the clocks, and always tend to be late and in trouble.

And it’s for the ones that love to follow the rules, arrive on time, and go in an absolutely set direction. The ones who set goals and go there directly, without deviation. The very focused ones that always seem to do things ‘properly’.

And actually, it’s for everyone on every spectrum in between. These polarities exist within all of us at different times – this book explores and celebrates these polarities in a fun and cute rhyming story.

The Wobbly Wallaby is always jumping here and there. All the things she comes across grab her attention; she can’t stay still or focus for long at all! She goes in one direction, and then gets distracted and changes track; she can’t stick to her goals and she’s always late! She just doesn’t seem to be able to behave in the same way as the other wallabies. If the Wobbly Wallaby happened to be a kid in a classroom, they might even say she has ADHD.

The Absolute Bandicoot is at first annoyed by Wobbly Wallaby. He is the complete opposite – he can’t see anything outside the one straight hole he is fixed on digging. He doesn’t like disturbance, and wants to stay focused on his singular task. He tends to be a little rude and abrupt, which hurts the sensitive wallaby’s feelings. The bandicoot may even exist somewhere on the spectrum of autism, (not that we are giving him that label!) But these two quite different and special creatures find that they have some gifts to share with each other, and they realise in the end that they help each other, and they make a great team!

The Wobbly Wallaby and the Absolute Bandicoot tells the tale of the wobbly ones. It hopes to normalise, to celebrate, bring awareness to the creative power of the wobble! To help us to see the genius emerging from those wobbles, to feel the liberation from the linear, the breaking free from the fixed and the typical. To also acknowledge that there are challenges that come with a distractable and differently-shaped mind, and to point the unsaid expectations, shames and pressures that can live inside the wobbly ones.