Amara And The Bats

Amara and the Bats” is an inspiring story about a girl who makes a difference by rallying new friends to help save bats. The first few pages tenderly describe Amara’s first experience of seeing a bat up close and clears the air over one of the most misunderstood mammals on earth.

Amara adores bats but finds that the park in her new neighbourhood hardly has any. With the help of her classmates, she takes action and children make a bat-friendly sanctuary in the park, where eventually, the bats return.

Many striking features in this book caught my attention. First was the choice of names – Amara and her elder brother Samir – it is great to see such names being a part of a book that does not focus on identity. While referring to environmental activists, Emma Reynolds does not just stop at Greta Thunberg and Jerome Foster II but mentions Ridhima Pandey and Tokata Iron Eyes in the same breath. “Amara’s Bat Facts” and the guide to make bat houses are not only interesting for the reader but it makes the book a great mentor text to use across genres.