North Melbourne Books June Newsletter - featuring Lissa Evans

In the June edition of the North Melbourne Books newsletter we talk to English author Lissa Evans about her hilarious new book for children, Wed Wabbit.

When 10-year-old Fidge finds herself magically transported to Wimbley Land, the fictional homeland of the Wimbley Woos, she fears that she may never get back to the real world. Surreal and nonsensical, Wed Wabbit is the funniest kids' book you'll read this year - for adults and children alike.

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North Melbourne Books talks to Lissa Evans

North Melbourne Books: When 10-year-old Fidge finds herself inexplicably transported to Wimbley Land, the fictional homeland of the Wimbley Woos, she fears that she may never get back to the real world. Worse still, Wimbley Land is in turmoil: its Wimbley king has been deposed and a horrid plush toy dictator has taken over. The plot is quite topsy-turvy and reads like a spoof on young children's books. Where did the idea for the story come from?

Lissa Evans: I can usually work out where my ideas come from but Wed Wabbit and the Land of Wimbly Woo seemed to have arrived out of nowhere, fully formed!  The nearest I can get is the memory of reading a particular picture book to my children - one with a seemingly endless, repetitive story line  which (inevitably) my children LOVED  but which drove me mad. I used to make it bearable for myself by putting on different funny voices for each character...

NMB: Each colored cohort of Wimbley Woos has a particular characteristic. Blues are strong, yellows are timid, purples understand the past and future, pinks give cuddles, oranges are silly and get in muddles, greens are daring and greys are wise and rarely wrong. If you were a Wimbley Woo, what colour would you be?

LE: I like to think I'm a mixture of grey (wise and rarely wrong) with a touch of Pink (cuddles) but my children probably think I'm a Green (shouts a lot).

NMB: The story is hilariously funny. It's the sort of book that adults can read and enjoy as much - if not more - than the kids. What was the writing experience like? Was it fun writing all those madcap scenes and situations?

LE: I love books that make me laugh and  I was a producer/director in radio and television comedy which means that I know the amount of work that it takes to make a funny line  work.  I particularly like writing funny dialogue, and I tend to read the lines out loud to myself, in order to get the emphasis and rhythm of them exactly right.  It sometimes takes a while to get there, but there's no better feeling than knowing that you've come up with a great punchline...!

NMB: Wed Wabbit has the feel of children's classics like The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland in its surreal and nonsensical style. What are some of your favourite children's books?

LE: I absolutely loved The Wizard of Oz, and I also particularly loved books in which magic intruded into 'real' life.    Alan Garner's Weirdstone of Brisingamen was a favourite, as well as Jane Langton's The Diamond in the Window, which I must have read at least twenty times.  I also loved funny books, especially the 'Uncle' books by JP Martin - timeless, ludicrous, endlessly inventive stories about an elephant who owns his own castle and constantly battles with his disreputable neighbours.

NMB: What books are you enjoying reading at the moment?

LE: I've just finished Reservoir 13 by John McGregor, which I loved - an extraordinary, detailed, fascinating examination of time and change.  I've also read Ted Chiang's book of sci-fi short stories, The Story of your Life from which the film of Arrival was adapted.  They are MARVELLOUS!

Wed Wabbit, by Lissa Evans. Published by David Fickling. RRP: $19.99

Wed Wabbit, by Lissa Evans

Staff review by Chris Saliba

When 10-year-old Fidge finds herself magically transported to Wimbley Land, the fictional homeland of the Wimbley Woos, she fears that she may never get back to the real world. Surreal and nonsensical, Wed Wabbit is the funniest kids' book you'll read this year - for adults and children alike. 

Four-year-old Minnie loves her toys, especially her "wed wabbit", a red rabbit plush toy bought from a charity shop. Wed Wabbit seems innocuous enough, although he has "nasty little blackcurrant eyes" according to Minnie's 10-year-old sister, Fidge. Minnie also has a passion for the Wimbley Woos, characters from a children's book series. The Wimbley Woos come in all sorts of different colours, speak in rhyming verse and love sweets. Each colored cohort of Wimbley Woos has a particular skill. Oranges are silly and get in muddles, blues are strong, greys are wise and rarely wrong, pinks like to give cuddles and so on and so forth. When Minnie is knocked over by a car and ends up in hospital, older sister Fidge is charged with making sure her toys are collected and brought to the hospital.

While Minnie is treated in hospital, Fidge must stay with her dreaded cousin Graham. Graham is obnoxious and rather a bit too precious. His parents have him wrapped up in cotton wool, indulging his many neuroses. Performing the most simple daily tasks is a fraught business for Graham. He is scared of almost everything and is self-indulgently morose, consequently he makes for terrible company. He clings to his 'transitional object', a plastic carrot on wheels that he got as part of a vegetable promotion. His transitional object helps him deal with change and work through his worries.

When Fidge and Graham have an argument, Fidge collects all of Minnie's toys - Wed Wabbit, a Wimbley Woos book, a toy elephant named Eleanor and a toy phone - and throws them into a cupboard. The only problem is, it's not a cupboard. Fidge opens the door and enters, now wanting to collect the toys. Then something strange happens: somehow she's in Wimbley Land and all the other toys have now come to life. Worse still, a horrible dictator has taken over Wimbley Land. How to get out?

It's hard to find fault with Wed Wabbit, Lissa Evans' third novel for children (she also writes for adults.) The unbelievable and totally zany plot is stitched together so perfectly that not a seam shows. The story is full of wonderful innovation and clever surprises. Often the reader wonders how some of the trickier aspects of the story will be resolved, only to be delighted with something so mad, yet also entirely plausible considering it is Wimbley Land.

For the most part Wed Wabbit is a comedy adventure. There's a laugh a page, and it may just be that adults find the book even funnier than the kids. It reads as a spoof on the syrupy, simplistic literature of young readers, a bit like the Teletubbies meets The Lord of the Flies. Wimbley Land is all butterflies, twittering birds, blue skies and endless lollies and cakes. Pink Wimbley Woos answer all problems with the offer of a hug (not as mad as it seems in Wimbley Land, as offering a hug averts a major crisis in the book).

The text is reminiscent of many children's classics, without being derivative. This is certainly one inventive and highly original book. Nonetheless, it's easy to feel the influence of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland. There are even touches of The Secret Garden, especially with Graham's transformation from whinger to more robust young man. The mad jollity and English eccentricity of P.G. Wodehouse also comes through.

Does Wed Wabbit have a particular message? It's hard to tell. While nominally it's about Fidge working out her emotional problems (her father recently died and she's become a little emotionally withdrawn) the novel is essentially a nonsense tale, surreal and topsy-turvy in the manner of Alice in Wonderland, and resists any serious interpretation. It's a ride to be enjoyed, one to scream as you go faster. Yet the story is so intelligently and skillfully done, and tickles the brain so thoroughly, that perhaps further readings will yield deeper secrets in the text.

Wed Wabbit, by Lissa Evans. Published by David Fickling. ISBN: 9781910989432 RRP: $19.99

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