Changes

Bat, with his vampire teeth, is a rather volatile character, lurching between a sweet and happy discussion of his love of cherries, to fierce protectiveness over them when he is suspicious that the reader might just steal them from him! He is full of threats about how angry he will be if anyone takes his cherries and so of course, when he returns to find some of them missing he is both distraught and angry! He goes so far as to accuse the reader of having stolen them (though the reader has seen who the real thieves are…) and he becomes bereft without his precious cherries. Poor Bat! All is not lost, however, as the mystery thieves give Bat a pear, and Bat soon becomes as protective of his pear as he was of his cherries.

The bright, bold pictures work perfectly with the short, simple sentences. Each page has impact, and you're directed to give emphasis through larger, bold fonts where necessary. Thanks to the simplicity, it's great to hold up and read aloud to a group of children. Everyone can see what's going on with Bat and his cherries, and the interaction with the reader works well. It's easy to follow, and easy to understand for small children, with no other explanations of what's happening required. I liked how expressive Bat was, even with such simple drawings, and the bright colours somehow give a cheerful, lively pace to the book as you read. I must mention the cover to the hardback version of this book too, as it's really lovely. The title and the outline of Bat are imprinted into the book, so you just want to run your fingers over it to feel the dips of the words and of Bat, whilst Bat's face is raised, so again you run your fingers over his pointy little teeth! It's a small detail, but as a lover of these small touches on books it's very pleasing.