My published work and the hundreds of new projects I've either started, planned or are 'in progress' have always been for older readers, from upper primary children to teens and adults.
During the years I was teaching in school, my colleagues from the reception and early years classes often asked if I was planning to write any picture books for their age group. I can't say why I hadn't explored this area of storytelling. Ideas come, I always find, and you have a feel for their genre and age group. Perhaps there'd never been a story or a moment that I wanted to explore that warranted a picture book format.
Until now, that is, when suddenly the idea came easily, the time seemed right and there was a certain 'synchronicity' between my words and the visual ideas of my friend and illustrator, Kirsty.
The Inspiration
There was always a little anecdote in our family involving a boy and a bat. As a child aged about ten or eleven, my husband Dave went to play in some beach caves.
'His name was Dave. He was a boy with a curious mind,
He liked to look for new things, and here's an interesting find!'
The interesting find was a little bat, lying on the cave floor. Dave took it home, where he hid it in the bathroom cupboard. I'm not sure what his plan was, but it ended quickly when his Mum opened the cupboard to get a towel and the bat flew out and gave her a fright.
'"You're safe in there," said Dave, "It's warm and feels just right."
But when Mum went there to fetch a towel, they both got an awful fright!'
At the back of my mind, I think there was always a possible storyline here, but it took twenty-eight years to come to fruition. On a sunny day in August 2024, while I was babysitting and my grandson was having his afternoon nap, I put the rhyming text down on paper. The result is Billy the Bat's Big Adventure.
Words and Pictures Come Together
When I arrived back home, Kirsty and I began to discuss the visuals for a picture book. I've previously worked with Kirsty on the black and white line drawings for my children's books Footprints in the Snow and Save the White Stag, and I was curious to see how Kirsty envisaged the images for this idea. I wasn't disappointed! Her bold and colourful drawings, which each fill a whole page, are perfect to help small children understand the story as it progresses.
How did Billy escape?
In reality, the bat flew out of the window after flapping around in the bathroom. Kirsty and I wanted this to be a really funny moment.
'And when Billy saw his chance, like
a Super Bat in a cape,
He aimed for the bathroom window
and made his escape.'
The Book's Launch
By October, Billy was ready to go public, and just in time for Halloween too. As well as visiting a local creative market - armed and ready with Halloween Haribo candy - I also read the book at the English storytime at my local library and at my regular after-school club. We had a lot of fun cutting and sticking to produce bats that could fly around and follow the actions while we read the story together.
Billy in the Classroom
Thinking back to those questions from my colleagues, I thought about how the story of Billy the Bat's Big Adventure could have a place in reception and early year classrooms. Hopefully it's a funny story for snack time or at the end of the day, but on a more serious note, Dave should never have taken Billy home at all. We should respect the animal kingdom and leave all animals in their own environment. The story could be used to instill, in young children, the concepts of animal welfare, respect and care.
The story could also be a resource for teaching children about the seasons, hibernation, habitats and the world of bats in general. For example, I always thought that the bat Dave found had fallen on the floor, but Kirsty pointed out that, apparently, a bat's talons 'lock on' to its resting place and have a way to maintain this hold, so how did Dave's bat end up on the floor? Further research revealed that sometimes, in the hundreds or perhaps thousands of bats that are jostling for their hanging space, the smaller, younger bats can be pushed around and sometimes knocked right off. The book text had to be edited to stay true to this real bat fact.
'The neighbour-bats, they wriggled as they settled down to sleep,
And he dropped to the floor in a little batty heap.'
A Final Word
It took a while, but my first experience of writing a picture book has finally arrived. I didn't realise what a lot of fun it would be, during the writing, the book's development and especially the interaction with young listeners afterwards. Hopefully, there are more picture book ideas waiting 'in the wings'!
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Find out more about Billy the Bat's Big Adventure at www.maggieholman.com/books. The book is available as a paperback and e-book at all Amazon stores. This is the link to the books at Amazon UK: bit.ly/3MOcqsC . It's also available at bookstores and at selected UK libraries.
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