Title: Acro Bat
Author: Adrian M. Hurtado
Illustrator: Jayne Koontz
Publisher: GoTo Publish
ISBN: 978-1-64749-640-1
Pages: 40
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Hollywood Book Reviews
Starting right off with a few “chuckles,” I knew this story would be adorable. For example, author Adrian M. Hurtado gives his characters clever names, such as the star of the book, Acro Bat being a personified acrobatic member of the Chiropteran family, his father Harry Bat and his mother Ima Bat. The “Owlympics” is the name of the sporting event highlighting the story, named due to the fact it was created by a Wise Owl. The imaginative drawings brings the visualization of the story to the readers’ minds and enhances this fanciful world where forest animals compete for gold medal awards.
Acro Bat also brings simple mathematics into the storyline’s narrative; dealing with Acro needing to condition his eyes to see in the daytime, for a few seconds at a time, then explaining how seconds make minutes, and minutes make hours. Bringing the association of math to an actual problem needing to be solved – rather than just using numbers as an exercise – is a good theme for youngsters to use this technique to perhaps solve other problems which will arise in their lives. Plus, each new word, such as “nocturnal” is defined allowing for readers to expand their vocabulary.
The story has an element of excitement with the climax having Acro doing his high-bar routine in front of a judge, and having to do it with his eyes closed (good thing for bat radar) – because he went beyond his time limit of which he had conditioned his eyes to adjust for daylight. His parents showed up at the end with sunglasses , which was another unexpected “chuckle” of humor bringing the story to a happy ending.
For an enjoyable story of education, excitement and just pure fun, Acro Bat is the perfect book to reach for at bedtime, or on a rainy afternoon. Kids will love the creativity of enjoying a range of forest animals having an organized sporting event, and who better to win on the high-bar than a bat – who sleeps upside-down during the day anyway!