Batty

Batty the long eared bat spends his time hanging upside down at the zoo largely ignored by visitors. His efforts to emulate the penguins, gorillas, lions and other zoo animals do not attract the attention he longs for. When he finally returns to his own inverted position however, a pleasant surprise awaits him.

Sarah Dyer’s humorously distinctive pencil and pastel illustrations show much of the action from Batty’s upside down perspective so birds appear to perch on the underside of branches, lions to snooze on the underside of ceilings and penguins to plunge upwards into their pool. Signs, notices and bird calls provide added wit and interest to the quirky pictures which themselves require a degree of sophistication to interpret.