Going batty.

Why should we care about bats? Other than the sheer coolness of a flying mammal--species of which are found on every continent except Antarctica--we should care about bats because they are important to ecosystems the world over. Did you know that bats not only eat insects but that they help to pollinate flowers, spread seeds, and help scientists study ways to help humans? It’s true! All these facts and more are detailed in The Bat Scientists, by Mary Kay Carson. The photographs by Tom Uhlman are stunning, the diagrams clear.

Ms Carson focuses primarily on the bats of North America, but also covers the mission of Bat Conservation International, an organization dedicated to studying bats all over the world and finding ways to help them survive the limitations of diminishing habitat and the threat of disease.

It is rare that I have qualms about the editing of a non-fiction book, but this one made me a little crazy. It is, in most respects, well-written and full of information which was previously unknown to me. However, Ms Carson tends to repeat herself in ways which a good editor should have corrected. I strongly suspect I am being nit-picky, and that most kids will not even notice.

Come on in, the water’s fine.

After All, You're Callie Boone, by Winnie Mack, is about a girl with a secret dream. So secret, she's never told her best friend about it. This turns out to have been a wise decision, as Amy Higgins has decided to have a new best friend and makes fun of Callie at every opportunity. Who knows what she would say if she knew about Callie’s secret wish to compete as a diver on the United States Olympic Team someday?

Not only has Amy thrown Callie over, but Callie’s family keeps getting weirder and crazier. Her grandmother spends most of her time in her nightgown and watching game shows; her uncle has moved in and brought a bunch of ferrets with him as part of his latest get-rich plan; her dad is fighting his low-cholesterol diet every step of the way; her former-drill-instructor mother seems distant; and her big brother is constantly getting in trouble for shooting off his mouth.

After a very public belly flop off the high board in front of Amy and the rest of the world, Callie is banned from the local outdoor pool for rule-breaking. She is also convinced that, at the age of eleven, life as she knows it is over, and that she will never recover from the humiliation. Then Hoot shows up. The new boy in the neighborhood decides that Callie is the perfect person to show him around, and Callie can’t seem to disabuse him of the notion. He even begins to accompany her to the indoor aquatic center in town, where Callie’s dad trains her as a diver. As the summer progresses, Callie learns about true friendship and loyalty, and what it means to stand by your friends, even when it is the most difficult.

Horse Sense

I had not intended to review titles from the Picture Book list, but Wonder Horse: the True Story of the World's Smartest Horse, by Emily Arnold McCully, came across my desk today. As ever, her illustrations are beautiful and gentle with an almost impressionist touch. Even so, there is enough detail in them to give the reader a real sense of time and place. In this case, the time is about 25 years after the end of the American Civil War. Former slave Bill Key has made a fortune selling his Keystone Liniment and buys a horse in hopes of breeding a racer. What he gets is an ugly foal with twisted legs. Eventually, the colt, named Jim Key, grows to be a healthy horse of great intelligence. Bill Key, always a believer in treating and training animals with kindness, teaches Jim Key the alphabet, colors, counting, and how to do math problems. They go on the road, performing until some folks begin to challenge the validity of Jim Key's "education." Amid insults to himself and his methods, Bill Key perseveres. Although this is a fictionalized account, an Author's Note in the back outlines the life of the real Bill Key and his "wonder horse," Jim Key. Ms McCully also includes a bibliography of additional resources on the pair.

While not for pre-school children, this picture book is a delight for the Kindergarten through Second Grade crowd.