The Wondrous Journals of Dr. Wendell Wellington Wiggins (review)

This whimsical travel journal documents the voyages and discoveries of the noted (and entirely fictional) nineteenth-century paleozoologist, Dr. Wendell Wellington Wiggins as he seeks to understand the natural world by traveling to the six continents and excavating the remains of their most ancient creatures. Accompanied by a lovable wombat-like sidekick, Dr. Wiggins uncovers evidence of all sorts of spectacular (and also entirely fictional) extinct species, including Gargantuan King Mosquitoes in the jungles of South America; the Dreaded Gossip Peacocks and the Two-Headed Mammoth Buffalo of North America; and the Mighty Telephants of the plains of Africa, to name just a few. Each entry works a bit like a short story, with Dr. Wiggins setting the scene of the dig, giving a brief history of the species, concluding with a pithy observation about the creatures' eventual demise, and relating that lesson to human behavior (the beautiful Balloon Dragons were brought down by a group of envious prehistoric monkeys in an example of "everyone want[ing] to tear down what they wish they were, but can't be"). Ultimately, though, this formula becomes tiring, and the doctor's conclusions are too simplistic and reductive to survive much repetition. The short entries and conversational tone will make this an easy book to put down and revisit again later, though. Foote's black and white illustrations accompany each entry, providing eye-catching reconstructions of the animals along with bits of visual humor. The animals are amusing creations, and the journal format may inspire creative naturalists to begin documenting their own backyard explorations. Notes from Dr. Harriet J. Knickerbocker (also fictional) provide factual data.