Bat's Big Game
Kindergarten-Grade 3—In this retelling of a traditional fable, Bat cannot decide whether he wants to be on the Animals' or the Birds' soccer team. At first he chooses the Animals, but when they start to fall behind, he switches to the Birds. When they start to lose, he tries to switch back. The Animals find his lack of loyalty distasteful and eject him from the game. The text is compact and has an innate rhythm characteristic of a veteran storyteller. Nobati's full-page, digitally created color illustrations are highly stylized. Readers must look carefully at some of the players to try to decide what kind of animal they are. Despite this, the pictures are full of action and re-create the mood of a heated soccer game.—Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UTCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.