Catch That Bat!

Zoo Stories

by Adam Frost, Mark Chambers (Illustrator)

Tom and Sophie Nightingale live on a barge with their zookeeper dad and vet mum, and as many animals as you can get on a small boat. Surely there's no room for any MORE animals in their life? But then there's a bat in peril, an owl on the prowl and an outbreak of night-terrors for the zoo's nocturnal residents. Tom and Sophie must stage a moonlit vigil to discover what's going on!An animal-packed caper written with the help of the brilliant team at London Zoo.

145 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 11, 2013

About the author

"Adam Frost was born in Epping and grew up in Buckhurst Hill, Essex. He attended Buckhurst Hill County High School. He earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Oxford and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. His dissertation was on the short stories of H.H. Munro."

"Adam Frost published his first book Ralph the Magic Rabbit in 2006. It was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize."

"Frost also designs information graphics for The Guardian and other publications. His graphic with Zhenia Vasiliev, ‘The 39 Stats’, was awarded a Silver Medal in the 2013 Information is Beautiful Awards. Other graphics have focussed on the Gothic novel, entomophagy, and the election of Pope Francis."

~Excerpts from Wikipedia.org - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Fro...

Reviews

[Fatma Narman · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Catch that bat!’, by Adam Frost, is a book aimed at elementary readers. The 145-page book would ideally suit children aged between 7 and 9, although a nine-year old might find it unchallenging as it is short and the illustrations are rather simple. The author has used both male and female main characters, which is presumably aimed at appealing to both sexes.
The plot is as follows: Protagonists Tom and Sophie are two siblings who live on a house boat with their parents and their dog Rex (and their many other pets) on Regent’s Canal in London. Their mother is a vet, and their father is a zookeeper at London Zoo. The children are both fascinated with the nocturnal wildlife of the area, especially bats which are described as 'the most famous of all nocturnal animals' in the book.
Because of their parents' job, they often get a behind-the-scenes look at London Zoo, which would be a dream come true for many children. Both Tom and Sophie are inquisitive about their surroundings, and knowledgeable about animals in general. Tom, the younger sibling tends to be more adventurous whereas Sophie is more cautious. The book documents their various adventures following night-time animals in and around the canal. Their adventure begins when there is a power cut around Regent's Canal. Tom and Sophie are in luck as they have their special infrared goggles to help a fox out of the canal. Later, Tom and Sophie embark on a mission to rescue a baby bat and help reunite it with its mother.
The pair often compete with each other to find solutions to the challenges they face in their adventures, but in the end it is only when they cooperate and listen to each other and their elders that they succeed. This is one of the messages of the book.
'Catch that bat!' encourages children to be interested in wildlife, and provides facts and other interesting details to educate the reader. The target audience could be seen as children who live in an urban environment who may not otherwise be connected to nature. It shows that fascinating wildlife can be found in the middle of a city. The fact that the book is produced by London Zoo might be seen as a commercial interference, but it is nonetheless educational and well-written, and I would still recommend it to students.