Sunday, October 9, 2016

Fall Reading 2016 Good Night, Bat! Good Morning, Squirrel!

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Books that feature letters and notes between characters can be really funny. Just think of the letters that Farmer Brown receives from the various animals on his farm in Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. And what about the letters that are sent to Dear Mrs. LaRue? Don't we all love to laugh at those? 

Paul Meisel's latest picture book features an exchange of notes between two unlikely roommates. Bat has lost his home, and after a lot of searching, finds what he thinks is the perfect new place. Unfortunately, when Squirrel wakes up to find her nest has been moved into, she is not happy. Squirrel tries leaving notes, but Bat doesn't seem to get the message. When she says, "LEAVE MY HOUSE," Bat just adds more leaves to the nest. Will they ever be able to work things out?

While Bat is not as clueless as Amelia Bedelia, he does seem to misunderstand each note. This could be the perfect book to introduce the topic of clear communication and how word choice can affect how a message is perceived. It might also be a good segue into multiple meaning words and how context helps us determine which meaning is intended.

Aside from the vocabulary possibilities, this is also an excellent story for showing that friends don't have to be exactly like each other. These two roommates are opposites in some ways. One is nocturnal, flies, hangs upside down to sleep, and eats bugs. The other sleeps at night, eats nuts, and runs about on four legs. But what they have in common, and the things they choose to share with each other, are more important than their differences.

Whether you need a language arts text, a story about making friends, or just want to enjoy a humorous picture book, you won't go wrong choosing this one.

I received a copy from the publisher for review purposes.

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