April 2024 Middle Grade Book Selection | First Editions Club

New York, NY: Little Brown Books for Young Readers | Hachette (April 9, 2024)

First Edition. Signed by Ernest Cline.

As new in dust jacket.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ernest Cline comes a mostly true tall tale about an unexpected friendship between a young girl and a music-loving colony of bats.

After losing her mother, thirteen-year-old Opal moves in with her uncle Roscoe on the family farm. There, Opal bonds with Uncle Roscoe over music and befriends a group of orphaned, music-loving bats. But just as the farm is starting to feel like home, the bats’ cave is destroyed by a big mining company with its sights set on the farmland next.

If Opal and the bats can fit in anywhere, it’s the nearby city of Austin, home to their favorite music and a host of wonderfully eccentric characters. But with people afraid of the bats and determined to get rid of them, it’ll take a whole lot of courage to prove that this is where the bats—and Opal—belong.

Ernest Cline is the bestselling author of Ready Player One, Ready Player Two, and Armada and co-screenwriter of the film adaptation of Ready Player One, directed by Steven Spielberg. This is his debut middle-grade novel. He lives in Austin, Texas.