Battle of the Bad-Breath Bats

13th Street #1

by David Bowles, Shane Clester (Illustrations)

A new silly and spooky highly illustrated series that’s perfect for fans of Eerie Elementary and Notebooks of Doom, featuring art on every page and fun activities at the end of each book!

Cousins Malia, Ivan, and Dante are visiting their aunt Lucy for the summer. But on their way to Gulf City’s water park, they get lost on 13th Street. Only it’s not a street at all. It’s a strange world filled with dangerous beasts! Will the cousins find their way back to Aunt Lucy’s?

Each story in this hilarious and scary new series from award-winning author David Bowles is designed to set independent readers up for success—with short, fast-paced chapters, art on every page, and progress bars at the end of each chapter!

Genres: Fantasy, Chapter Books, Horror, Childrens, Juvenile, Middle Grade, Latinx

96 pages, Paperback

First published July 7, 2020

About the author

David Bowles is a Mexican American author and translator from south Texas. He has written several award-winning titles, most notably THEY CALL ME GÜERO and MY TWO BORDER TOWNS

His work has also been published in multiple anthologies, plus venues such as The New York Times, Strange Horizons, School Library Journal, Rattle, Translation Review, and the Journal of Children’s Literature.

Additionally, David has worked on several TV/film projects. In 2019, he co-founded the hashtag and activist movement #DignidadLiteraria, which has negotiated greater Latinx representation in publishing. He is presently the president of the Texas Institute of Letters.

Reviews

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book 13th Street: Battle of the Bad Breath Bats by David Bowles is a quick and engaging chapter book for early readers. At the end of each chapter, it shows kids how many chapters they have read and how many they have left in the book. This gives early readers encouragement and an incentive to keep going! This book is appropriately spooky, action-packed, and includes Latinx protagonists. Great representation! I really loved the inclusion of Spanish phrases throughout the book. Kids will easily relate to these fun characters and will certainly continue to turn the pages to see how this group of kids get out of trouble.

I checked out this book from my local library. It was recommended to me by the librarian.

[Katie Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so great! Fun to have a horror book for beginning chapter book readers. Spanish is included throughout, lots of fun video game references, spooky without being too intense for younger readers. I think this would appeal to a wide range of readers really. Malia, Ivan and Dante are highly entertaining characters with distinct personalities. What fun to have cousins teaming up like this! I love the way Harper includes end of chapter notes to celebrate how far you've read. I'm so pleased there are so many options for beginning chapter book readers with great representation. It's wonderful to see Bowles writing for this age group as well. Really well done and fun. I'd read more of these for sure!

[Heather Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

culturally sensitive though funny book. for middle school readers wanting a bit more in a story . the most sensitive readers might find it a bit scary, but that shouldn't stop the majority of youngsters.

[Sincere · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it's just like a video gameI think it's just like a video gamethat you're supposed to escape from The Munsters

[Mrs. Mazzola · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slightly spooky, action-packed adventure with Latinx protagonists in an early chapter book? Sign me up! There is a definite need for these stories with diverse representation (particularly #ownvoices stories) and I know it will be super popular with my kiddos, especially those who already love Eerie Elementary and the Notebook of Doom.

*Thank you to Edelweiss+ and the publisher for the digital copy*

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series has so many great things going for it. I love the Spanish words and Mexican culture infused throughout the book. I like the encouraging speech bubbles at the end of some of the chapters. I adore the characters. The story is funny, entertaining, and delightfully spooky. Black and white pictures are on almost every page. Recommended for elementary school kids who like scary beginner chapter book series, like The Haunted Library and Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol.

[Danielle Booey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cousins Malia, Dante, and Ivan are excited to spend the summer at Aunt Lucy's house. Little do they know that an ordinary trip to the water park is about to get exciting when they take shortcut recommended to them by a suspicious old lady...

Smart and diverse characters, a cool video gamesque premise for defeating the villains, good secondary characters like Omi, and cute illustrations make this a winning new chapter book series. Perfect for October and spooky season!

[Liz Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Bowles is one of my favourite writers. He writes so well across many children's literary genres. He is a Mexican American author who teaches at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He has written a middle grade series that draws on Mesoamerican mythology, an award winning picture book and books of poetry for middle grade and young adult audiences and much more. He also translates works in Nahuatl and has written in Nahuatl. I find it hard to keep up with his work as his creativity shows no bounds. This is a transitional chapter book with spooky characters and plenty of challenges for the preteen protagonists. It is a lot of fun. It's not as compelling as some of his other books but he knows his audience. This one and the other books in the series have a countdown of how many chapters you’ve read and how many you have to go. The illustrations work well to support the text. I can see this being motivating for children. They are definitely corny in large part but again this works well for the genre of transitional chapter books. They have human protagonists, not animals (the animals are the adversaries and he has fun with those) and this is sorely needed for transitional books.

[Riley Yoder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to my little sister and I did enjoy it overall. I did have a small issue with the fact that it was a bit hard to remember which cousin is Ivan and which is Dante they never really give a good way to remember who is who other than a single picture early on and a comment about how Ivan is taller later on. Aside from that the story is fun. Essentially they end up in trouble because they took a strangers advice and they solved their problem in a very creative way. I loved the activities in the back of the book! Really makes the reader critically think about the what happened in the story. I like the character design of Omi.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fast-paced story encourages kids to finish the book, and at the end of chapters even has speech balloons telling them how much they've read so far. Humor (the bats are dangerous because of how bad their breath is), danger (can they escape and go back home?), and a lesson in how useful the skills learned in video games can be, this bends over backwards to be appealing to unenthusiastic readers.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great early chapter book! Loved the chapter markers and motivational segments to give the reader an idea of how much was left and incentive to keep going. The introduction (for some) into Hispanic heritage and both male and female characters was such a great choice and something that will definitely keep me coming back. I can't wait to recommend this series to my patrons and help those kiddos who are struggling to find a book they really love.

[Portia · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 6 year old and I read this together as a read aloud. The story was confusing for me and not incredibly attention holding for my son either. However, my so wants to try another one in this series, so we’ll see if we enjoy that one more. I do like how they’re are ways for early readers to track their progress as they’re reading. The end of the book has a review of the number of pages & chapters read.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun first book in a new series! A little bit spooky, a little bit silly, and includes diverse characters. Yay! My boys enjoyed it and we will definitely read the rest of the series.

It’s an early reader chapter book, so it’s not super complex, but I found some of the writing to be a tad clunky. Not that my boys noticed at all. All the titles are alliterative and I know my boys are going to die over the one that has tooting tarantulas! 😆

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our 2nd and 3rd grade readers are always looking for spooky books - and this is perfectly not-too-scary!

Also loved the little dots motivating kids to see how many chapters they’d finished at the end of each chapter, and at the end of the book it even declares how many words they read total once they finished. Super cool and unique - reluctant readers will love this feature!

[Maggie Ignasiak · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't love it, but I know a lot of kids who will. Some of the analogies in it were abrupt and I didn't love the pacing, however for its reading level it's on par with other similar series. Will definitely be recommending the rest of the series for the library collection, but I won't be reading the rest of them myself.

[Kristin Yourdon · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, Shakespeare this is not, but it seems like it would be a great pick for reluctant readers who like video games. There are several references to video games, there is a lot of action, the chapters are quick, and there are illustrations. Overall, I would recommend this book for kids who are just starting to read early chapter books on their own.

[Abigail Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super, super cute! I loved the premise of a spooky magical street and hints to more adventures. There was Hispanic culture woven into the story, along with Spanish vocabulary, which was awesome. I especially loved the asides at the end of some of the chapters, encouraging the reader! Like at the end of chapter 6: “YES! You just read two more chapters—even with bats chasing you!” So cute!

[Cindy Mooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

My reluctant reader loved this one and already started the second! We worked on the Spanish words together but other than that he's able to read pretty easily. He was very impressed that I know a lil Spanish from my high school classes. The story is a little bit spooky with video game references that my gamer kid loves.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun story that mixed video game aspects, adventure, survival and creepiness well. It's great for a beginning chapter book since it counts down the chapters for you, gives encouragement at the end of the chapter and when you finish the book it gives you a tally of chapters, words, and pages you read. Great motivation and encouragement.

[Margaret Boling · Rating 4 out of 5]

5/20/2024 ~ A fun addition to the early chapter book collection. I appreciate the inclusion of some Spanish.

(NOTE: I could do without HarperCollins' "reading cheerleading" aspects of word counts & chapter counts. To be fair, I'm not the target demographic for this book; I'm curious how kid readers respond to this feature.)

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

September 2020 - short chapters, lots of excitement, and frequent illustrations. This made a fun real-aloud over the course of a few nights, and Ben was excited to get the next one in the series. A touch scary, but not too much for my 2nd grader. Main characters are all Latinx.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ridiculous premise and characters that are a bit flat (although that's just an early chapter book for you), but this does have some diversity and a bit of spooky action. It seemed kind of stilted, but would probably appeal to kids who want something fast-paced and like The Notebook of Doom.

[Cleo Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This surprised me--the cover is definitely misleading. It looks like a horror book, and there are monsters and ghosts--but I'd say this is more for fans of adventures and gamers. I enjoyed the references to Hispanic culture sprinkled in throughout.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, fun, and a bit weird. A not-so-scary scary series for kids starting our with longer chapter books. Lots of great support for beginning readers (pictures, milestones along the way letting you know how much you've read). A nice cast of Latinx characters and Spanish phrases woven in.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute new easy reader with chapters. A girl and her cousing enter an alternate reality on 13 th Street and meet up with ghosts and Bad-breath bats! I think kids will like them. They are new in our library.

[Angel]

how do i read this is my first time on the websute please help me

[Whittney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could see this being a good option for class reading groups, especially with the added activities in the back.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spooky fun for the reluctant reader.

[Raven Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

Modern, fantasy and mystery series. Humor and adventure mix to create a wild ride.

[Asher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the book because it was very funny. I liked it a little better than the ferret one.