On StoryMakers join author Jess Brallier for a chat about the first book his new picture book series, BOOKER THE LIBRARY BAT: THE NEW GUARD. The series features Booker, a book-loving bat who works in a library as a guard to protect books from book-eating bugs. The story is based on a real library, Biblioteca Joanina, in the city of Coimbra, Portugal that welcomes bats to live amongst their bookcases, emerging at dusk to feed on bugs that would otherwise destroy the priceless, leather-bound books housed on their shelves. Learn more about these bats and imagine other animals that might do a good job working in a library.

Kids! Tell us in the comments below which animal you would choose to live in your local library and why!

About the Book









The launch of a picture book series about the adventures of a book-loving bat and his buddies as they patrol and protect their library home.



Booker the bat has completed his training and he’s excited to report for duty as the newest guard at the Joanina Library in Coimbra, Portugal. His job is to fly through the stacks at night, gobbling down the bugs that are in turn eating the 200,000 antique leather books. It’s the perfect job for Booker, because he loves to read.  And now he’s saving books!







There’s only one problem: how will he fit in with the other guards? They’re so cool and confident, and what if they don’t like him? But when Booker spots a human attempting to steal pages from one of the valuable books, he summons his courage, (echo)locates the other bat guards, and swoops in with a plan to save the day!











WATCH Jess Brallier’s StoryMakers

About Jess Brallier

Jess Brallier was first a publisher (book and online), a role he held at Funbrain, Poptropica, Planet Dexter, and Family Education Network. He also served on the executive team at Harcourt, Little Brown, and Abrams. Of the 30+ published books Jess authored or co-authored as a publisher, half were children’s books.

His Lawyers & Other Reptiles landed on multiple bestseller lists. And his Who Was Albert Einstein for Penguin’s bestselling Who Is/Was series sold 450,000+ units, was translated into multiple languages, and was critical to Who Is/Was becoming a consistent New York Times bestselling series.  His most recent picture book is The Olphabet (Running Press); forthcoming are The Unknown Solider (Charlesbridge) and a series, Booker: The Library Bat (Pixel+Ink).

A native of Ligonier, Pennsylvania, Jess is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh (B.A.) and Boston University (M.S.). He and his wife, Sally Chabert, reside in New York City.  Their two grown children are the greatest.

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