Blinky Bill

Tonight I read JE Blinky Bill & the Pelicans, and I was shocked to see Dorothy Wall refer to Blinky and Nutsy and their mother as bears. I realize most people in the world can't help but refer to koalas as bears (when they're really marsupials), but it doesn't matter what they look like, or even if you're 4th-grade teacher used the phrase; Koalas are not bears.

I asked JE to tell me what was wrong with the first sentence and straight away he noticed Dorothy Wall had called Blinky & Nutsy's mother Mrs. Bear. Good eye, lad. Good eye.

A couple of pages later Blinky & Nutsy helped a field mouse's sick friend who turned out to be a porcupine. I guess she must have got sick on the migration, because porcupines are not native to Australia; echidnas are, but not porcupines.

Dorothy Wall had only one valid defense, and my suspicions proved correct, but not enough to let her off the hook (good thing she's been dead for over 60 years or I'd give her a piece of my mind). Dorothy was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia when she was 20 years old. That means she darn well should have known better than to refer to koalas as bears and echidna as porcupines.

We're reading the second half of the book tomorrow night. I wonder what other faux pas Ms. Wall can make.