The Bat Can Bat: A Book of True Homonyms - Hardcover

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.

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