A Boy Called Bat

Have you heard of The Global Read Aloud Project?  If you were fortunate to attend the ISLA conference in Ft. Wayne, you had the opportunity to hear Pernille Rip speak.  Since I read one of last year's book, A Long Walk to Water, I wanted to tap into one of this year's GRA books! 

I shared the website and information about the global read aloud project with my daughter's third-grade teacher. She was interested, so I ordered her the book for middle-grade readers, A Boy called Bat. It has been so fun to watch her connect with other classes around the world through this project. She is using the platform Seesaw for this connection.   Audrey is really enjoying this book at school, so I ordered another copy so I could check it out myself.

This book centers on a boy who wants to show his mom that a skunk can make the perfect pet. The mom is a veterinarian and brought the skunk home initially as a rescue.   So far, I have been most impressed with the author's ability to juxtapose traits of the skunk with the 10-year-old boy, who is autistic. It's quite brilliant actually.  

On the opening page, the reader meets Bat and learns he does not like to eat leftovers, sliced cheese, or most yogurt flavors. On the next pages, the author quickly introduces a number of Bat’s other “quirks” – oversensitive hearing, flapping his hands, and being particular about the way his possessions are organized, which are autistic traits. Early in the story, the mom does bring home the skunk. Bat loves the skunk so much, in fact, that he is able to overcome some of his daily obstacles.

I love this book because it highlights important inclusive educational practices. It would be great to study point of view or sensory perception.   I am looking forward to continuing this book and learning more about how he overcomes his challenges, and if he's able to convince his mom to keep the pet skunk!

Until next week,

Dr. Kingsley