Who doesn't enjoy a superhero story? I know The Young Lad loved them, back when he was little enough to sit on my knee and read stories with me. He may have outgrown them (and he's definitely outgrown my knee! He's the tallest one in the family now!) but I haven't! I still love a good superhero story, and one of my favourites is the quirky BatKiwi by Melinda Szymanik.
So I was super exited when I heard about BatKiwi and the Big Wet, which will be hitting library shelves real soon. As soon as I saw the cover, I was intrigued! We have the exact same blue plastic shell in our back garden (maybe you have one too?), and I couldn't wait to see what BatKiwi and their friends were doing with it!
Now that I have the book in my hands, I can tell you that in this story, Kiwi and Bat found the blue Thing at the edge of the forest after it fell of the back of a truck. At first, they hoped the blue Thing would go away, but then the summer (which wasn't being much of a summer) turned into a wet, windy, downpour, and all the animals needed to be rescued from the flood. Maybe the Thing would be useful, after all! Once again, Bat uses her wings, Kiwi his strong, sturdy legs (and his bright ideas!) and together they make one heck of a superhero!
Isobel Joy Te Aho-White's illustrations are dark and atmospheric, and complement Melinda Szymanik's simple, relatable text beautifully. The familiarity of the story made me smile. The shell, the summer which wasn't much of a summer (we've got one of those happening right now, don't you think?), and Kiwi's good old kiwi ingenuity!
Definitely a fab little story! If only The Young Lad wasn't too big to sit and read with me! Ah well. I'll just have to make do with sharing it with you!
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