A Boy Called Bat: Chapters 9–15

That was the thing that made Mr. Grayson the best teacher Bat had ever had: his “open-door Babycakes policy,” which meant that any time a kid needed to cuddle, he or she could go visit Babycakes, no permission needed, no questions asked.

Bat hated unspoken rules, but he loved the open-door Babycakes policy, so when five minutes later Mr. Grayson said, “Okay, Bat, time’s up,” Bat reluctantly scooted Babycakes off his lap where he had set her and rejoined the class.

Bat considered telling Mr. Grayson about the life cycle of the monarch butterfly, but the teacher was busy unlacing his orange high-tops and getting ready to lead the group in yoga.

Bat did not like collaboration. He liked to do things himself.

Cocoa’s was the name of Bat’s favorite coffee shop, downtown. It was nestled in between a bookstore that also sold stuffed animals and a shoe store.

Janie loved to sing and dance and act, and she was getting ready to audition for the role of Alice in Alice in Wonderland, her school’s spring play.

The enclosure was nothing like Babycakes’s enclosure. It was just a dog kennel, a smallish one, blue plastic with a handle on the top and a black grate door that locked.

“I wonder if Stripy will like peanut butter,” he said, trying to be casual about the name. “You know, when he’s all grown up.”

Mom smiled. “I thought it was too gross to look at leftover food stuck to a plate.”
“It is too gross,” Bat said. “But I’ll do it anyway.” Even if it made him gag. Even if it made him throw up.

Skunks spray an oily liquid from glands underneath their tails as a defense.

Skunks can make many places their home — abandoned burrows constructed by other animals, a hollow log, even underneath your house!

What are skunks’ predators?
Lots of mammals—including red foxes, coyotes, and domestic dogs—will attack a skunk if they get hungry enough, though only as a last resort, because it’s difficult to attack a skunk without a smelly reminder of it.

What are skunks’ predators?
Lots of mammals—including red foxes, coyotes, and domestic dogs—will attack a skunk if they get hungry enough, though only as a last resort, because it’s difficult to attack a skunk without a smelly reminder of it.

But aerial predators — large birds, like owls — don’t care so much about the scent. For one thing, it’s hard for a skunk to spray at an attacker from the sky. For another, many birds of prey have little to no sense of smell.

But according to world skunk expert Dr. Jerry Dragoo, head of the Dragoo Institute for the Betterment of Skunks and Skunk Reputations, while skunks in general do not make good pets, what makes a good pet is a good pet caretaker.