• Author: Katie Furze
• Illustrator: Ned Barraud
• 32 pages
• Soft back
• Dimensions mm: 250x240x10
• Non-Fiction Picture Book

When velvety dark descends, the whole colony wakes and the hollow comes alive with twitching and chittering. Bats are Aotearoa New Zealand s only native land mammals. This book is set in an ancient forest, and follows Pekapeka, a short,tailed bat, on her nocturnal adventures as she forages for food, evades predators, and plays a crucial role in pollinating native plants, all while navigating the many dangers hidden in the night.

Deep in an ancient New Zealand forest, inside a hollow tree, sleeps a tiny pekapeka. As darkness falls, she joins hundreds of bats zipping and zooming into the night to hunt for insects, nectar and fruit. But danger lurks in the shadows, from hungry ruru to prowling rats and stoats. Pekapeka must use her sharp senses, clever echolocation and nimble wings to survive.

Adapted over millions of years, New Zealand’s short-tailed bats are unique, spending much of their time foraging on the forest floor. As dawn breaks, Pekapeka returns to her roost, where she now feeds her newborn pup, and the cycle of life continues.

The back matter includes background information about New Zealand’s only native land mammal, the bat, with fascinating facts about short-tailed pekapeka, and details about conservation efforts to protect these endangered animals.

About the Author: Katie Furze writes children’s fiction and non-fiction, including picture books, short stories, articles, plays, readers and novels.You can read her work in the New Zealand School Journal, or The School Magazine in Australia. Katie has also written stories in anthologies and readers and plays for educational publishers. Tuatara, A Living Treasure was her first non-fiction picture book with Scholastic, followed by Ruru, Night Hunter. Katie has a master’s degree in creative writing and is fascinated by science and nature. When she’s not reading or writing, she enjoys the outdoors, tramping, yoga, travelling and scuba diving. She lives in Auckland with her family.