Molly the Bat

Renée B. Meloche is an instructional consultant with the Halton Board
of Education.

Kingdom Collection 3. $4.95pa. ISBN 1–896399–03–7pa. (Ages 4–8)

Each book in this series tells a story about an animal in the wild.
Factual information is used as a basis for character, setting, and plot,
and each ends with 10 multiple-choice questions based on the material
covered in the text.

Bubbles is a young, mischievous bottlenose dolphin living off the coast
of Florida. She causes upset in her school of family groups, because she
always tries to participate in adult activities: surf the waves, jump on
the water surface, explore the sea. Bubbles’s world includes harmless
encounters with pelicans and turtles, and the deadly threat of ships and
sharks. Her actions and their consequences are chronicled over one
season.

Kirrosh is a young Bengal tiger living in a beautiful valley in India.
The events of his life provide the lessons by which he learns and
practises the ways of the tiger. His mother’s counsel helps Kirrosh
through the struggles that precede his emergence into adulthood.

Molly is a brown bat living in central Canada. She has spent the winter
with other bats hibernating in a cave. Awakening in late April, she
finds little food available. Something inside compels her to abandon the
cave and seek nourishment. A family takes Molly in and eventually sets
her free. Over the season, Molly has acquired the warmth and food
necessary for her to give birth. Using fact to create fiction, this
series manages to both inform and entertain. Recommended.