The council promotes books and reading by bringing readers, writers, publishers, editors, and schools together. The Book Council also welcomes international visitors to literary New Zealand and presents a literary map of New Zealand.

A baby Mexican free-tailed bat clings to the ceiling of a crowded noisy cave, waiting for his mother to return from her daily hunting trip. After three days of searching and waiting, he is rescued by a bat that is in a strangely similar circumstance. A surprising story of adoption in the animal kingdom based on current research.