The Magic Bat

by Andrew Wade

The Magic Bat is set in Australia. A young boy, Toby, finds an old cricket bat in an antique store but when he gets it home and rubs oil into the wood it starts talking to him. Toby gets scared and throws it out the window but later he is persuaded to take the bat to cricket practice with his friends Simon, Ben and Moon-dee, an Aboriginal girl. Moon-dee suggests that a Tree Spirit may be captured in the special bat, and they all go with her to ask the advice of her wise grandparents who tell them about the spirits that inhabited the land before mankind destroyed the forests. Later the friends use the bat in a match against a rival school with startling results. This is an original story which Australian Aboriginal people have read and have approved. Endorsements by Australian Aboriginals. Members of the Australian Aboriginal Education Committee read The Magic Bat and had the following "The Magic Bat is a wonderful children's fiction story that would cater for primary school and lower secondary school audiences. The text is written in a way which would accommodate children in being able to read with reasonable ease. Children would be able to relate to the characters and the language used by the characters in the story. The story flows along nicely and encourages interest for the reader. I found myself so caught up in the story that I could not put it down. I simply had to find out what happened next! I would recommend it to any school as a resource for storytelling or for student reading." -- Simone Nelson, Kingscliff High School (NSW), Aboriginal Education Assistant "I read The Magic Bat to a class of 6-8 year-olds as a serial. This interesting story kept them enthralled and anxious to hear the next episode." -- Marcia Browning, Primary School Teacher "First let me explain that I am not a reader of books generally and I am not proud of this but I was asked to read The Magic Bat and to make a comment. I looked at it and kept putting this matter off, thinking it would take time (which I don't have a lot of). When I finally picked up the book, nestled into a comfortable position and started to read, I found it so interesting that before long, I realised that I was more than half way through. I took a break, stopping just for a while as I imagined I could see the characters little faces. In no time at all I was finished, this wasn't a chore at all, as I had previously thought. I was in fact actually enjoying it...I could see them and the old people! It was then that I realised that this interesting short story had gained and held the attention of a non-reader till then end. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, but more importantly the lesson behind this children's fiction and would recommend it for Primary school age children. -- Jackie McDonald, Member of the Tweed Wollumbin Aboriginal Educational Consultative Group

CD-ROM

Published October 1, 2000