Anna Humphrey

The Megabat series is a really fun one for beginning/youth readers. It is pretty easy to read, and the stories are fun and adventurous. Like the others in the series, you don't need to have read the last ones to follow along. It would help but not really necessary.

Megabat is a fruit bat that lives with Daniel, they also have other pet and animal friends in the house and yard, and they get into all sorts of adventures/ problems with. In this installment Megabat is trying to help Daniel raise money to replace Dad's phone because they broke it. Communication problems and Megabats understanding of the human world made it hard for him to understand how to become famous... so that he can make money and he tries to become famous during Mom's dinner party. It does not go well.

I think that these books are really cute, but my ongoing issue is that Megabat's speech isn't great and as a new readers/learner I feel like this might cause some problems. I like that the little bat is the main character though, it is a fun way to tell a story.

Overall - super cute, love following the animals, some of the bat-talk might be confusing to learners.… (meer)

Megabat, Megastar is the fifth book in a series for children by Anna Humphrey. This is the first book of the series that I've read, so I may have missed a few key details that would have made the read a bit less confusing. However, basically the story is about a talking fruit bat that lives with a young boy. While the boy and the bat have a friendship it is really difficult to connect with either the bat or the boy during the book. The bat has his own twist on the English language, which makes reading his dialogue challenging and there is very little character development surrounding the boy Megabat lives with, so he feels insubstantial. The plot line also seems a bit protracted for the age level this book is best geared towards (6-9 year old children).
The pros of the book include the graphics, they are fun and well drawn, and the hidden message that trying to help a friend is a valuable life lesson. Ultimately, while I really wanted to like this book, I didn't. While the plot would be ideal for my seven year old, the book is too long for her to read and she would lose attention well before the conclusion. I'm not sure if reading earlier books in this series first would make Megabat Megastar easier to read, but as a stand alone book it is a bit of a miss.… (meer)