Batcat (Batcat Book 1): A Graphic Novel

by Meggie Ramm

Overview

First in a full-color graphic novel series for emerging readers about accepting yourself and others from up-and-coming author-illustrator Meggie Ramm, creator of the comic strip The Littlest Dungeon Guard and cohost of the Pop! Whiz! Bang! comics podcast.

Batcat loves being all alone in their home on Spooky Island. Up in their tree house, they pass the time playing video games and watching TV. But when Batcat suddenly finds themself haunted by an annoying, ice cream–stealing ghost, they visit the local Island Witch for a spell to remove their ghastly guest permanently!

With their Ghost-B-Gone spell in hand, Batcat travels across Spooky Island to gather ingredients—to the Cavernous Caves where the bats tell them they’re too round to be a bat, and to the Whispering Cemetery where the cats will help only if they commit to being a true cat. But Batcat is neither and that’s what makes them special, right?

From up-and-coming author Meggie Ramm comes a sweet and fun story about accepting yourself when you’re perfectly in between here and there.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419756573
Publisher:	Abrams Fanfare
Publication date:	03/28/2023
Series:	Batcat , #1
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Meggie Ramm (they/them) is a nonbinary cartoonist from Michigan. They spent their twenties teaching comics to kids in Oakland, California, and it was the best job in the whole world. They’ve had work in the New Yorker, Everyday Feminism, and Silver Sprocket, and have a limerick-based comic strip called The Littlest Dungeon Guard distributed through Sunday HaHa. They love rhymes, reading gay sci-fi and fantasy, and comics.

Editorial Reviews

This graphic novel for emerging readers spins an eerie yarn full of dead trees and secrets into a winning combination of charming and funny. The story flies along at a brisk clip to a terrifically satisfying ending. This intentional celebration of nonbinary identity reminds readers that they don’t have to be only one thing; they just have to be themselves.”—Booklist

“Batcat is a treat! Kids are going to pick up a pencil and start making their own round, pink, ghostly comics as soon as they finish it!”—Aliza Layne, author of Beetle and the Hollowbones

“Readers of all ages who have wondered about their own place in a world keen on dividing things into categories will relate to this quandary and delight in the playful ways that Batcat defines themself outside of the binary.”—Maia Kobabe, author of Gender Queer: A Memoir

***STARRED REVIEW***
“This story is charming, uplifting, and silly, with adorable and colorful artwork that will make readers laugh. For young readers who love funny animal stories, as well as sweet stories about self-acceptance.”—School Library Journal

“Spooky fun, with a theme that’s relevant on Halloween and every other day besides.”—Kirkus

From the Publisher

This graphic novel for emerging readers spins an eerie yarn full of dead trees and secrets into a winning combination of charming and funny. The story flies along at a brisk clip to a terrifically satisfying ending. This intentional celebration of nonbinary identity reminds readers that they don’t have to be only one thing; they just have to be themselves.

Booklist

Readers of all ages who have wondered about their own place in a world keen on dividing things into categories will relate to this quandary and delight in the playful ways that Batcat defines themself outside of the binary.

author of Gender Queer: A Memoir Maia Kobabe

Batcat is a treat! Kids are going to pick up a pencil and start making their own round, pink, ghostly comics as soon as they finish it!

author of Beetle and the Hollowbones Aliza Layne

★ 03/01/2023

Gr 2 Up—Batcat is a cute, round, and pink creature who enjoys living on Spooky Isle all alone. They are happy because they don't have to share their mushroom pizza or their hot cocoa or their video games with anyone else. When a ghost shows up in their tree house and refuses to leave, Batcat asks the Island Witch for help. The Island Witch tells Batcat to travel to different locations to gather ingredients for the spell that will get rid of the ghost, but this turns into an unusual journey. Along the way, Batcat meets bats, cats, ghosts, and other creatures. Batcat is a nonbinary character, so they have trouble fitting into just one category. As they explore their world and meet other characters, they face a dilemma about not being enough of a bat to please the bats, and not enough of a cat to satisfy the cats. Batcat will start to learn about how they fit into the world as a one-of-a-kind creature, and think about whether they want to remain alone or are ready to start making friends. This story is charming, uplifting, and silly, with adorable and colorful artwork that will make readers laugh. VERDICT For young readers who love funny animal stories, as well as sweet stories about self-acceptance.—Andrea Lipinski

School Library Journal

2023-04-12
The adventures of a creature who is not entirely one thing or the other.

A ghost has made itself at home in Batcat’s comfy Spooky Isle treehouse, hogging the remote and stealing snacks. Batcat goes to the island’s witch—who is “neither a good witch nor a bad witch,” but, like Batcat, “somewhere in between”—for a magical solution. Gathering ingredients for the promised spell leads to scary and thrilling encounters with true bats in the “cavernous caves,” snotty cats in the graveyard, and a pair of wise griffins (who, as half-birds, half-lions, are also not one creature but parts of several), and eventually Batcat resolves nagging identity issues by accepting that they are unique in themself. The message is clearly in the driver’s seat here, but the story and the visuals are sturdy and charming enough to carry it easily. In the full-color art, Ramm depicts Batcat as a rotund, Pikachu-cute figure with whiskers, pointy ears, and small (but working) wings. Likewise, for all the impenetrable darkness, mysterious graveyard screams, and seemingly deadly hazards of the spooky stops along the way, the smiling, brown-skinned witch (the only human figure) and the rest of the spectral, undead, and mythological cast have benign looks that keep the overall tone light.

Spooky fun, with a theme that’s relevant on Halloween and every other day besides. (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews