Bitsy Bat, School Star is a two-tiered entertainingly illustrated book

In lower-elementary schools across the nation story time is nigh. The time of a school day when a parent comes into the classroom of pre-k through second-grade classes and reads one or two stories to kids is a precious time indeed. Bitsy Bat, School Star is an illustrated book that serves as comfort food to those older kids on that scale. It also does the trick of letting those on the younger end realize that people are different and that everyone’s a star in their own right.

Bitsy Bat, School Star, as is the case with many illustrated books, strives to teach those young audiences a lesson. And as any teacher who’s toiled in elementary school long enough will attest to, those books that covertly teach those lessons are received more warmly. The lesson in Bitsy Bat, School Star is so covert that even some older readers won’t fully grasp what that book is trying to impart until they read the liner notes at the end.

From a purely visual point of view, this is accomplished due to the illustrations and color choices. Bitsy Bat is nervous about going to school, which is exacerbated even more when she realizes that she’s the only bat in her classroom. Bitsy tries to make the best of it and do things in the same way that the other students do, but it all goes south very quickly.

Up until this point all of the pages have been corner-to-corner, full-color. When Bitsy first hits the wall where she’s trying and failing at various things the pages make great use of the activities in color blobs, surrounded by white space. These are the only instances of white space in the book and are immediately followed up by a close-up illustration of Bitsy having a full-on meltdown. After this, her family picks her up, gives Bitsy her comfort blanket and they go home.

Before going to school the next day Bitsy and her family give her the necessary tools to make the day easier. The rooms are too bright for her, so she gets some sunglasses. The crowds and their noise sometimes disorient her, so she gets some headphones. With these two things in tow, plus a creative art project for everyone in her class, she confidently gets back on the horse and tries it again.

A cursory look at Bitsy Bat, School Star from young readers or the story time crowd will enjoy the book without digging too deep. She’s eager to go to school, has a setback, gets frustrated, but tries again and succeeds in making friends. It’s a book about not succeeding on the first attempt, but ultimately getting it done because you don’t give up.

The details in Bitsy Bat, School Star will resonate with young readers or educators that are autistic. Headphones, for example, are an excellent, go-to calming device for some with autism, yet this is the first book that I’ve ever seen that predominately features their use. There’s a More About Autism sheet at the back of the book, as well as, an acknowledgment that author/illustrator of the book uses the same mechanisms as Bitsy does.

That’s what makes Bitsy Bat, School Star an approachable book on multiple levels. There are many students who won’t even realize that Bitsy is wearing headphones in the later parts of the book. There are some young students who use glasses, headphones or other devices to help them manage when things get stressful. To both camps it’ll be an enjoyable book, however, to one of them it’ll be a very subtle acknowledgment of seeing people like them that are in a book that’s enjoyed by everyone.  It also sets up a character who could easily see more adventures outside of the school.

Bitsy Bat, School Star is written and illustrated by Kaz Windness and is available on Paula Wiseman Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

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