The Bat Can Bat: A Book of True Homonyms

by Gene Barretta, Gene Barretta (Illustrator)

Overview

A picture book about homonyms starring a silly cast of animal athletes.

What is a homonym? It's a word that has different meanings but is always spelled the same.
This informative book, set at a sporting event, includes a BAT who can BAT! A karate-chopping bulldog who is tough enough to BREAK five boards without taking a BREAK, and a STEER who tried to STEER his skateboard, but accidentally fell into a well—and that’s just for starters.

The clever wordplay from Gene Barretta introduces children to the richness of language through homonyms.

Christy Ottaviano Books

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250304766
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	02/13/2018
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	30 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Gene Barretta has written and illustrated many award-winning books, including others in this series on language: Deer Dear: A Book of Homophones and Zoola Palooza: A Book of Homographs, as well as Lincoln and Kennedy: A Pair to Compare; Timeless Thomas: How Thomas Edison Changed Our Lives; Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci; and Now&Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin. He lives in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, with his son.
Gene Barretta is the author and illustrator of Now&Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin; Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci and Timeless Thomas: How Thomas Edison Changed Our Lives. He is also author and illustrator of Dear Deer, which was a Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts and listed on the Parenting Magazine Mom-Tested Books of the Year List. He holds a B.F.A. in Film Studies from New York University, and has worked for many years in film and television production. He lives in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania with his son.

Editorial Reviews

"Homonym pairs describe the action as an array of unlikely animals play sports with varying degrees of success and hilarity. . . Barretta is a master of wordplay. . . Youngsters will laugh out loud while they are unconsciously, painlessly learning."-Kirkus Reviews

"Sports and animals are perennially popular, and Barretta uses them as the common denominator in this collection of illustrated homonyms. . . . This is a fundamental purchase for school libraries and public libraries with heavy educator usage."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

02/01/2018
Gr 2–4—Sports and animals are perennially popular, and Baretta uses them as the common denominator in this collection of illustrated homonyms. It begins with the easily understood "The bat can bat!" featuring a bat playing baseball, then progresses to more difficult examples. The font is simple, in black or white, depending on the background color of the full-bleed illustrations. The homonyms are printed in capital letters. The use of horizontal and vertical spreads is helpful in explaining the finer points of homonyms. One of the vertical illustrations features a two-tiered, high diving board—the top deck hosts an angry, red-faced rhino who is throwing a fit over the fit of his ridiculously tiny swimsuit. For comic relief, on the lower diving deck, a young girl casts a nervous glance upwards. A "Note to the Reader" includes useful definitions of homonyms, homophones, and homographs. VERDICT More concept book than storybook, this is a fundamental purchase for school libraries and public libraries with heavy educator usage.—Lisa Taylor, Florida State College, Jacksonville

School Library Journal

2017-12-03
Homonym pairs describe the action as an array of unlikely animals play sports with varying degrees of success and hilarity.The titular BAT wields his BAT for a home run, causing the president to announce a new law declaring that all animals have the RIGHT to play sports. "That's RIGHT!" he says. Double-page spreads depict a variety of animals taking part in all kinds of sporting events, employing one or more sets of true homonyms, which stand out in bold uppercase letters. (A note to readers orients them on the nuanced differences among homonyms, homophones, and homographs.) Some examples involve pairings with straightforward meanings that are easily understood by young readers. Rabbits TRAIN for races by racing a TRAIN. In other examples, details in the illustrations highlight possibly unfamiliar meanings. The dolphin can STAND on a wave as it faces the judges' STAND, where there is a sign over a diverse group of people in a structure helpfully labeled "Judges." Barretta is a master of wordplay (Dear Deer, 2007; Zoola Palooza, 2011), and his hugely expressive, brightly hued watercolor cartoons certainly depict both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, all with endless humor and charm. That poor water buffalo is totally embarrassed when his horn is caught in the basketball net, and the monkey looks absolutely gleeful when he deliberately throws the football in the wrong direction.Youngsters will laugh out loud while they are unconsciously, painlessly learning. (Picture book. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews