What they say...

“The best inheritance a parent can give his children is a few minutes of his time each day.”

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— Orlando Aloysius Battista, Canadian-American chemist and author

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Every mother knows that spending some time with her child each day is an invaluable gift she can give amidst the hustle and bustle of everyday life and household chores. But is there a better way to create this bonding time?

 

Sherry and Zoe Grant show us through their first collaboration, Bat Girl, how poetry and illustrations can create a fun and memorable one-on-one time between a mother and a daughter.

 

Sherry’s poetry is whimsical, imaginative, and relatable. With Zoe’s illustrations and natural flair for poetry writing, everyday things are as fresh and magical as when we first saw them as children.
 

Because of this wonderful tandem between Sherry and Zoe, I am currently working on an illustrated poetry book with my goddaughter. I think more parents or grandparents should start looking at a child’s drawing as more than just a souvenir to be displayed on the refrigerator. Every single drawing of a child, whether it looks like chicken scratch or a work of art, is a precious gem that can spark a poem or a story.

 

I hope Bat Girl will prompt more writing collaborations within the family to celebrate bonding moments and to spread the love for art and poetry.

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— Christine L. Villa, award-winning children’s book author and Founding Editor of Frameless Sky

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“Bat Girl” is a first poetry collection written by Sherry Grant and her six-year old daughter, Zoe. It is illustrated with delightful photographs of Zoe dressed as bat girl and drawings created by her.

Several of the subjects are personal to a small child: the ticking of a clock, a dream boy, bread, lying in bed, being at the beach or admiring a small snail.

 

Sherry writes about a variety of fauna and flora: a pink butterfly, a baby panda and a zebra. Some of the poems in this collection express the inner feelings of the child and her mother’s attempts to convey her experiences.

Ranging from haiku, to sonnet, gogyoshi, tanka and other forms,
the poems are infused with a rich mosaic of childhood imagery. The
poems shimmer with a sweet touch of simplicity, openness and
lucidity that mark her poetic idioms; subtle, specific and razorsharp.

 

All the parts are planned and organized so well that the entire collection flows beautifully. Sherry’s poems range from life’s small acts to family, friends and dreaming. The language is spot on and the book’s construction has a flow that is indeed credit worthy.

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On the whole my reading left me moved and that says much about the strength of the collection. I love poems written by children, and art by children, and in this collection of poems we have both.

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Zoe Grant is just six years old, but her love of the things of this world—the richness and variety of them—is evident on every page.

 

Wordsworth reckoned that we are most visionary in childhood, and that maturing is a long process of forgetting what we were, and where we came from. Poems by children come closer to that source than those by adults; what we learn about craft and language is poor compensation for the loss of that delight in observing all around us when all is new.

 

I wish Zoe Grant the very best for her future writing, and may she never lose that delight.

—Tim Upperton, award-winning poet

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Arts Infinity Press
ISBN : 978 - 0 - 473 - 55308 - 1

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ISBN 9780473553081 (New Zealand Edition)

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available after 5 June 2021