The Bat-Poet

Rating:
Summary: Present From A Teacher
Review: I am thirty-seven now and a teacher; I probably chose this profession because of Mr. Erick Burkett, who taught me and my chums when we were in sixth grade. He was patient and funny. He held us spellbound when he read L'Engle's "Wrinkle in Time". The next year he got married and moved away, but he saw some promise in me (I was constantly writing stories in sixth grade and showing them to him for his approval) and he wrote some very fatherly and wonderful letters to me until I was a senior in high school. When I was a senior he sent me "The Bat Poet" and encouraged me in my writing. Of course I wrote reams of poems after reading it. This is a very special book, especially for timid young students with dreams of being published.

Rating:
Summary: not just for children
Review: This book is a gem. It's tender, clever, and deftly written. It's wonderful for reading aloud. I had trouble finding it for years, and I'm so pleased to see that it's available again.

Rating:
Summary: not just for children
Review: This my favorite children's book. It is as good-- perhaps not as accessible-- as Charlotte's Web. It teaches real lessons about poetry and about loneliness. It asks questions that it can't answer: why do we like to read about things that frighten us? And it conveys the distinction between writing a poem that is praised and writing a poem that evokes real feelings.

That The Bat-Poet is so little known has always been a mystery to me. Then again, considering the state of publishing in this country, maybe it's not such a mystery. And maybe it's just as well that word-of-mouth is what brings new readers to the Bat-Poet.

Rating:
Summary: The Bat-Poet and me.
Review: This my favorite children's book. It is as good-- perhaps not as accessible-- as Charlotte's Web. It teaches real lessons about poetry and about loneliness. It asks questions that it can't answer: why do we like to read about things that frighten us? And it conveys the distinction between writing a poem that is praised and writing a poem that evokes real feelings.

That The Bat-Poet is so little known has always been a mystery to me. Then again, considering the state of publishing in this country, maybe it's not such a mystery. And maybe it's just as well that word-of-mouth is what brings new readers to the Bat-Poet.