The Wonky Donkey

Product Information

In 2010 a schoolteacher alleged that Smith had heavily based the book on several internet jokes and had not referenced this in his work. It is illustrated by British-born Katz Cowley, who has a degree in Illustration from the University of Northumbria. In a recent video made by her daughter, Scottish granny Janice Clark reads the story to her four-month-old grandson Archer, and laughs progressively harder as the donkey becomes increasingly bizarre. Shortly after, the family moved to Queenstown where he, his mother and five brothers and sisters grew up. It has unusual illustrations and the story is simple, using snappy rhyming words to describe the donkey's many defects, beginning with the fact that he has three legs and is thus a 'wonky donkey'.

Wonky Donkey Series by Craig Smith - Goodreads

A home video of a Scottish grandmother’s uncontrollable giggles while reading The Wonky Donkey picture book to her baby grandson have sent book lovers around the world rushing to get their hands on a copy, with publishers left scrambling to meet demand.Although the picture book, which is illustrated by Katz Cowley, had sold more than 1m copies around the world to date, the majority of that was in Australia and New Zealand, said Smith, who hopes it will find a more global readership. Theres a certain re-readability with this one which adds to the appeal, reckon this will be read numerous times over the coming months. Watching Janice read and laugh was just delightful, and like many, her infectious laugh had me laughing too,” said Smith.

Books in the Wonky Donkey series - Wheelers Books Books in the Wonky Donkey series - Wheelers Books

The book is written a bit like "The 12 Days of Christmas" where everything that goes before is repeated on each subsequent page with one phrase added.

When writing songs for the adult arena, Craig couldn't escape his childish side and was soon writing songs for non-grown-ups. I am so glad that Wonky’s reputation has finally come to bite him on the bum on this side of the world thanks to ‘Wonky’s Guardian Granny’. At Hachette, which publishes the book in the UK, group picture book director Emma Layfield said the publisher had already seen a “well-deserved jump in demand” for the book, “especially in Scotland”.

The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith | Goodreads The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith | Goodreads

In trying to be funny, the illustrator may have inadvertently caused a whole bunch of children to need therapy. I thought this would be one of those tongue twister stories to get kids laughing, but I definitely won't be reading it to my class. There is much fun to be had by listening to the song and trying to predict the new word for each clue given! So he could've only had one eye; there's no reason we had to see the bird carrying the eyeball away! Nevertheless, the goofy stretched-out descriptive list ("he was a cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey") will get giggles.I didn't find it cute and, in fact, found the increasingly long description of the donkey to be cumbersome. Cowley said that while The Wonky Donkey has been a household name in Australia and New Zealand since it was first published in 2009, the book had been only “an underground success” in the UK.