The Wonky Donkey

The Wonky Donkey is a children's picture book written by Craig Smith and illustrated by Katz Cowley, published in 2009. The book originated from a song Smith wrote in 2005, inspired by a simple joke about a three-legged donkey. The book features cumulative verses that build upon each other as readers meet a unique donkey character. Cowley's illustrations bring the text to life with expressive drawings that complement the story's rhythm and humor. The book gained international attention in 2018 when a video of a Scottish grandmother reading it to her grandson went viral. This led to widespread popularity and increased sales across multiple countries. This simple story uses repetition and wordplay to engage young readers while celebrating differences and individuality. The book's musical origins make it particularly effective for read-aloud sessions.

Readers embrace this book as a read-aloud that makes children and adults laugh through its cumulative rhyming pattern and silly descriptions. Parents report their kids request multiple readings and join in with the repetitive verses. Readers liked: - The tongue-twister quality that gets harder with each page - Illustrations that match the humor of the text - Appeal across age groups from toddlers to grandparents - Educational value in teaching descriptive words Readers disliked: - Some found the donkey's eye patch and three legs to be inappropriate for young children - A few noted the book feels repetitive after multiple readings - The rhyming structure confused some young listeners Ratings: Goodreads: 4.3/5 (2,800+ ratings) Amazon: 4.8/5 (23,000+ ratings) "My 2-year-old belly laughs every time we read this," wrote one Amazon reviewer. Another noted: "The increasing complexity of the verses helps build memory and vocabulary skills while keeping it fun."

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson A rhythmic tale about a clever mouse who invents a monster follows the same pattern of building repetitive descriptions throughout the story.

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson The cumulative storytelling structure with rhyming text introduces new characters and descriptions in each verse.

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin The story uses repetition and musical elements while adding changes to the main character in each verse.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen This chant-along story builds with repetitive verses and adds new elements as the characters progress through their adventure.

Down by the Bay by Raffi The song-based story creates humor through rhyming verses and builds upon each previous section with absurd scenarios.

🎵 Originally penned as a children's song in 2005, the book version wasn't published until 2009 in New Zealand 🦒 The viral video of Scottish grandmother Janice Clark reading the book has over 200 million views across social media platforms 🎨 Illustrator Katz Cowley used her own pet donkey as inspiration for creating the book's memorable character 🌏 After the viral video, the book topped Amazon's bestseller list and sold over 2 million copies worldwide, despite being nearly a decade old 🎤 Author Craig Smith is also a musician who regularly performs "The Wonky Donkey" and other educational songs at schools throughout New Zealand