HTPTA Is Excited To Announce Our 2024 HT Community Read A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold
Highland Terrace Elementary students, families, and staff read the book A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold from 4/1–4/12. Students will receive a copy of the book to read and keep in their home library, a gift from the Highland Terrace PTA. Students in our blended classrooms will receive What Riley Wore, also by Elana K. Arnold. This program is a school-wide family engagement activity.
What will students and families do?
READ! Reading and discussion of A Boy Called Bat will largely take place at home. Families will receive a schedule for daily reading along with discussion questions.
Each day, students and families should spend 15-20 minutes with A Boy Called Bat. Students can also follow along with recorded readings by Highland Terrace community members.
Students are encouraged to track their engagement with A Boy Called Bat on their Read-A-Thon tracking sheet.
What Riley Wore
Our blended classrooms are enjoying Community Read together through What Riley Wore by Elana K. Arnold. Watch a recording of one of our own Orca readers sharing this wonderful text: What Riley Wore Read Aloud
What will happen at school?
Students will have an opportunity to connect in class and during library to discuss their reading as well as answer some trivia questions based on the book. Community Read conversations may be woven into Read-A-Thon activities through lunch book chats, guest readers, and more.
Virtual Author Visit
All of Highland Terrace will get to meet author Elana K. Arnold on Thursday, April 11 via Zoom!
Have you gotten your book?
Books will be distributed to each student in their classrooms on Monday, April 1. If you have not received your book, please check with your classroom teacher or email HTReads2024@gmail.com.
About A Boy Called Bat
For Bixby Alexander Tam (nicknamed Bat), life tends to be full of surprises—some of them good, some not so good. Today, though, is a good-surprise day. Bat’s mom, a veterinarian, has brought home a baby skunk, which she needs to take care of until she can hand him over to a wild animal shelter. But the minute Bat meets the kit, he knows they belong together. And he’s got one month to show his mom that a baby skunk might just make a pretty terrific pet.
About Elana K. Arnold
Elena K. Arnold is the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning young adult novels and children’s books, including the Printz Honor winner Damsel, the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of, and Global Read Aloud selection A Boy Called Bat and its sequels. Several of her books are Junior Library Guild selections and have appeared on many best book lists, including the Amelia Bloomer Project, a catalog of feminist titles for young readers. Elana teaches in Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program and lives in Southern California with her family and menagerie of pets.
Questions and Comments
Email questions and comments about the Highland Terrace PTA-sponsored 2024 Community Read program to HTReads2024@gmail.com.
We can’t wait to read with you, Orcas!