Megabat

Gr 2–4—Daniel misses his old home in Toronto, and as he settles into his new house, he finds that his attic bedroom comes with a seemingly ghostly roommate. The whispering voice in the attic belongs to a talking, homesick fruit bat whose tearful "drippings" are causing puddles in the upper story of the house. When Daniel researches fruit bats at the library, he gives his friend the superhero name Megabat. Daniel introduces his new friend to Star Wars and crafts a fruit bat-size lightsaber out of a bendy straw. Daniel makes it his mission to help Megabat get back home to the tropical rain forests of Borneo. They unexpectedly recruit Talia, Daniel's neighbor, to help in this endeavor which proves to be more difficult as plan after plan falls apart. Meanwhile, Talia's brother Jamie cruelly bothers the pigeons in their neighborhood and brings misery to the friends after he learns of Megabat. While the story is simple and the bat-speak dialogue can be somewhat tedious, early readers will enjoy the happy ending in this story of finding friendship in unlikely places.