Bitsy Bat, Team Star

Description: When Enzo, a nonspeaking Owl, joins Bitsy Bat's class and might be a better flier than her, Bitsy learns the importance of being a teammate and friend.

Brief description: Kaz Windness is the author-illustrator of picture books Swim, Jim!; Bitsy Bat, School Star; Bitsy Bat, Team Star; and Bitsy Bat, Snow Star. She created the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Level 1 Ready-to-Read Graphics book Worm and Caterpillar Are Friends, and its sequel, Worm and Butterfly Are Friends, Always; the Star Chapter Book Time Traveling Chickens series; and the Level 1 Ready-to-Reads Cat vs. Vac; Go! Go! Dino!; and Squid in Pants. Kaz is also the illustrator of Ollie, the Acorn, and the Mighty Idea by Andrew Hacket and the author of When You Love a Book, illustrated by Heather Brockman Lee. Kaz lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband, two children, and Boston terrier. Visit her at WindnessBooks.com.

Review Quotes: "The familiar [school race] story is given particular freshness here by the wide range of abilities represented, from Bitsy's neurodivergence to a raccoon pal using a wheelchair to Enzo's communicating through a tablet and sign language. A breezy, straightforward storyline, simple sentence structure, and relatively accessible vocabulary make this an easy pick for early readers, and Enzo's form of communication, represented in-text as pictures instead of words, adds an additional layer of literacy kids can interpret."--BCCB