Be sure to visit our official blog tour post HERE for an excerpt & your chance to win a signed copy of this book! Contest runs through 3/16.
A truly beautiful, touching story about a boy on the autism spectrum and the baby skunk he befriends, A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold is the first in a promising new series that will delight readers young and old alike.
For Bixby Alexander Tam (nicknamed Bat), life tends to be full of surprises—some of them good, some not so good. Today, though, is a good-surprise day. Bat’s mom, a veterinarian, has brought home a baby skunk, which she needs to take care of until she can hand him over to a wild-animal shelter.
But the minute Bat meets the kit, he knows they belong together. And he’s got one month to show his mom that a baby skunk might just make a pretty terrific pet.
I just loved this sweet and simple story about one boy and the unlikely bond he forms with a baby skunk. Bat struggles to fit in with his classmates and to get along with other kids and family members, but something about that tiny kit just makes his heart sing.
Through personal experience and careful research, Arnold offers a simple yet in-depth look at the world through the eyes of a boy with autism. Bat doesn’t mean to hurt his classmate’s feelings or make his sister angry; but his brain just works a little differently, so his intentions are not always clear to others — and vice versa.
At its heart, A Boy Called Bat offers a careful and consideration of perspective. Arnold presents the idea that we don’t always understand someone’s intentions — but with a little love and understanding, we can come to understand, accept, and even appreciate someone else’s point of view.
I loved peeking into Bat’s world, and seeing things through his eyes. I loved seeing the bond he formed with the baby skunk, and how that opened up the possibilities for Bat to form more meaningful relationships with other people in his life: classmates, family members, even his mom’s coworker. Santoso’s illustrations just elevated an already excellent story, and helped bring each scene to life even more vividly.
A Boy Called Bat promises to become a very special book to so many readers; look for it in stores March 14th.
Novel Novice 
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