The Bat in the Boot is a beautifully illustrated book by Annie Cannon (1996). A family consisting of mother, father, son, and daughter enter their mud room after a morning of gardening and find a baby bat in one of the father’s work boots. The story is predictable. It’s the watercolor illustrations that drew me in. Bats visit the family home every night, so this family is happy to rescue one. There’s very little text, just enough to give Cannon the opportunity to paint a sequence of events: securing the bat in a shoebox to protect it, feeding it with an eye dropper, and watching the mother return to claim it. Back matter indicates this is based on a true story. “The wu-fu symbol illustrated on the jacket back has been adopted as the logo of the world’s foremost bat research and educational organization, Bat Conservation International.”
