Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

This happens sometimes when your youngest child reads a series that her older sister read five or six years ago; the series is longer than it used to be, except that you didn’t realize it until now. That, in fact, is what happened with Elana K. Arnold’s ‘Bat’ series; when I reviewed the third book in the series, in 2020, I called it a ‘satisfying end’ to the ‘trilogy’. When I put the first ‘Bat’ book on hold for my youngest, however, I noticed that while in 2020 there were only three books, now there are five. And what’s more, the 5th book came out this year, so who knows? There could be more! (Many more, in fact. I guess we’ll see…)

The fourth book, meanwhile, is called Bat and the Business of Ferrets, and in it we see Bat trying to adjust to fourth grade. A new teacher with new rules is hard enough, but there is also no class pet, which to Bat is a calamity. Can he do something about it? He certainly tries, but there is such a thing as trying too hard. Can Bat, with his neurodivergent brain, learn to recognize when he’s crossing a line? The answer, of course, is that he can–he just has to do it in his own time and way. I couldn’t help thinking that the adults in his life sometimes gave up explaining things to him a little too soon; on the other hand, they’ve (mostly) spent more time with Bat than I have, so they may know from experience when further talking is unproductive. My heart hurt for Lucca–a child having to bear the brunt of Bat’s mistaken ideas is much worse than adults doing so–but when Bat finally focuses on her actual feelings instead of those he’s only attributing to her, the results are truly lovely. I’m quite looking forward to the 5th book.

On the homefront, we did projects on Saturday and had family time yesterday, dividing the weekend rather neatly between a day of work and a day of rest. Unfortunately, I have two sickies home from school today; on the bright side, I suppose that answers my ‘should I buy more Kleenexes while they’re on coupon at Costco’ question, right? (How did I forget that between allergy season and cold and flu season, the answer is always yes?) Here’s hoping the noses in your households are happier than the noses in mine…