Storytale Festival – Get Batty: Storytime & Draw-along
Sun, 22 Oct
|The Small City Bookshop
Join illustrator and author Emma Reynolds in a fun bat-fact-filled Amara and the Bats story time and batty draw-along. Free tickets – link below.


Time & Location
22 Oct 2023, 14:00 – 14:45
The Small City Bookshop, 201 Church Rd, Redfield, Bristol BS5 9HL, UK
About the event
Book your free ticket here.
The Event
Join illustrator and author Emma Reynolds in a fun bat-fact-filled Amara and the Bats story time and batty draw-along! Meet the life-size bat plushies, and learn all about these amazing misunderstood creatures, while being introduced to the power of peaceful protest and community action!
Emma Reynolds is a children’s illustrator and author based in Manchester, UK. Her latest book Drawn to Change The World: 16 Youth Climate Activists, 16 Artists, is a middle grade graphic novel with each activist bio illustrated by an acclaimed artist from around the world. With activist interviews on the power of community, and illustrations to explain the science – Drawn focuses on the need to centre Indigenous solutions and intersectional climate justice, and also speaks on how we need more artists to transform society and tell new stories about our future – allowing us to manifest them into reality.
Emma’s author-illustrator debut picture book Amara and the Bats about bat conservation, peaceful protest and community action is a Nautilus winner, JLG Gold Standard, NSTA ‘Best in STEM’, and an Empathy Lab selection. In early 2019 she started #KidLit4Climate the first global illustrated climate campaign, bringing together thousands of children’s illustrators and authors from over fifty countries in solidarity with the youth climate strikes.
The Book
Environmental activism gets a nocturnal twist in this utterly charming picture book about a young girl and her mission to save the bats!
Amara loves bats! Her favourite thing to do is to collect bat facts and watch the amazing mammals fly at night by her house. But when Amara moves to a new town, she learns that her beloved bats no longer roost nearby because they are losing their habitat.
Amara is upset. What can she do to help? She’s just one person, and the problem feels so much bigger than her. But after doing some research, she discovers that there are many young people making big changes all around the world. Inspired to take action, Amara gathers her new friends to help save the bats. Together, she knows they can make a difference!
Emma Reynolds crafts an inspiring story about community action, perseverance, and what to do in the face of climate anxiety. At its heart, this is a story about hope and finding a place to call home.