"A Boy Called Bat" is about a non-neurotypical kid, Bat, who adopts a little skunk (Thor). Bat is the acronym formed by the boy's initials--but, also, when he is overly excited, he flaps his hands and seems to resemble a bat. Bat is capable of deep empathy; this is most obvious when he is caring for his baby skunk or when he is braiding his sister's hair. Feelings of empathy don't always line up with a strong ability to read social cues--Bat's apparent awkwardness can sometimes be (wrongly) interpreted as an absence of feeling. In one wonderful scene, a classmate, Israel, tries to engage Bat in a little chit chat. Bat finds this exhausting--in the barrage of "yes or no" questions, Bat simply answers "yes," or "no," and he waits for the questions to end. Who could fail to relate? To me, the most captivating part of the book is Bat's rapport with his sibling, Janie. This strongly reminded me of the TV series "Parenthood,...