Batcat loves their home on Spooky Island, where they can be alone playing video games and eat pizza. When a ghost starts haunting their treehouse, hogging the remote and stealing snacks, Batcat visits the local witch for a Ghost-B-Gone potion. They must then travel the island to collect the ingredients needed. In the Cavernous Caves, however, the bats tell them they’re too round to be a bat. In the Whispering Cemetery, the cats tell them they must commit to being a true cat. Finally, at Mount Marrow, two wise griffins, half-bird, half-lion, help Batcat to see their own uniqueness as a blend of two things. When Batcat gets home, with a newly confident sense of self, they just might have to reevaluate whether they want to shoo away the ghost or reach out to make friends.
There are clear messages in this early reader graphic novel, but they’re made enjoyable by the whimsical world and Batcat’s own endearing cuteness. (I sense a bit of Nintendo’s Kirby in Batcat.) I’m often skeptical of animal analogies about LGBTQ people in general—but Batcat is such a fun story and the message so clear that it just might work. As a cisgender person, I recognize my limits in assessing analogies about nonbinary people, but author/illustrator Meggie Ramm is nonbinary themself, so I’ll trust that Batcat will resonate with at least some nonbinary readers (among others).
Highly enjoyable.
