The Wonky Donkey Children’s Book Phenomenon

Posted on October 18th, 2018 by Carolyn Hart in Outstanding Picture Books to Enjoy at Home or at School


The Wonky Donkey has the world giggling this week

The Wonky Donkey written by Craig Smith and illustrated by Katz Cowley
Cumulative, Rhyming Picture Book published by Scholastic

In late August 2018, The Scottish Granny posted a Youtube video that has caught the world by storm. In the video, she is reading The Wonky Donkey aloud. Her wonderful Scottish accent and her infectious laugh are simply irresistible. We can’t imagine anyone watching the video without giggling. Sales of the book have shot up and a quick check of our local library shows that the book is “on order.”

The Wonky Donkey began as a song, performed by Craig Smith. It was the 2008 APRA AMCOS Children’s Song award winner.

In 2009 The Wonky Donkey was published as a book and it was the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults Children’s Choice award winner and Children’s Choice Picture Book category winner in 2010.

Smith’s wonderful rhyming, repetitive and cumulative text is just so silly and fun!

He only had three legs, one eye and he liked to listen to country music and he was quite tall and slim and he smelt really bad and that morning he got up early and he hadn’t had any coffee
He was a cranky stinky dinky lanky honky tonky winky wonky donkey
Cranky stinky dinky lanky honky tonky winky wonky donkey

This is a simply fantastic book to share with children. The vocabulary is rich (lanky). The alliteration (winky wonky) and rhyming (stinky dinky) will support the development of phonemic awareness.

In the case of The Scottish Granny’s video, although her grandson doesn’t understand the humor of The Wondy Donkey, Granny does and her delivery has an unrehearsed feel to it. She is discovering the book for the very first time and her delight is simply thrilling. Who wouldn’t want to share The Wonky Donkey (or any great book) with a child? Here’s hoping this phenomenon inspires many moms, dads and grandparents to read aloud every single day!

The Wonky Donkey at Amazon.com

The Wonky Donkey at Amazon.ca

Wonky Donkey (Digital Music) at Amazon.com

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