Bats at the Beach (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Sun slips down and all is still, and soon we can't tell sky from hill..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3–This is the quintessential book about going to the beach complete with overflowing picnic baskets, kite flying, singing around the campfire, and scratchy sand in places where no sand should be. Kids will certainly identify with the exuberant and familiar fun, but what will get them howling is the fact that the characters are bats that are visiting the beach in the moonlight. The rhyming text is grounded in reality with many inventive twists to keep the imagination rolling. There is moon-tan lotion, salted 'skeeters, and bat kites. Where the book truly soars is in the dark yet luminescent art where bat wings glow in the light of the full moon and the sky is a steely blue. The faces on the bats are furry and friendly. These creatures use cocktail umbrellas for beach umbrellas; they hold wing-boat races in red-and-white checked food containers; and when it's time for a late-night snack, they enter the ice-cream shack where a lit light bulb attracts a multitude of succulent bugs. Readers may not be tempted to try marshmallows with bug legs and gossamer wings but that won't keep them from reveling in this grand adventure.–Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

K-Gr. 2. The trope of a day at the beach is turned on its head with a family of bats that spend a night there, complete with "moon-tan lotion." Young bats play with "the stuff [they] find" and bury each other in the sand; older ones sing around the campfire and toast "bug-mallows" (an episode accompanied by a slightly icky image of marshmallows with legs and wings). The rhyming text, which floats white against the dark backdrops, leaves no beach activity or experience unmentioned, right down to the unpleasant feel of itchy sand "where no sand should be." The acrylic paintings are appropriately dark but never muddy, and the gently anthropomorphized bats, every strand of fur sharply delineated, follow in the cute-but-still-batlike tradition of Stellaluna (1993). Readers will be swept right along until the sun comes up and the bats return home: "We sigh and snuggle close together / to dream about the moony weather." GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (April 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 061855744X
• ISBN-13: 978-0618557448
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,353 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Caldecott Bound!, April 25, 2006

By	Bam "School Librarian and Book Lover" (Rhode Island) - See all my reviews

This is a fabulous book. Beautifully written prose, with each word obviously carefully chosen. Stunning and imaginative illustrations match the meticulously written story. I am a school librarian and the children absoltuely love this book and want to hear it and look at the illustrations again and again, each time discovering something special they missed the last time around. Highly recommended and a book that can be enjoyed on many levels.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning!, April 20, 2006

By	A reader from New England - See all my reviews

I'll start with the artwork: one word - STUNNING! Brian makes those beach-bound bats so appealing! Young children will want to look at the pictures over and over - there's so much to see. The moonglow on the ocean, the fireglow on the faces of the bats, the humorous activities of the bat children..... And what kid won't LOVE those icky bugmallows roasting over the fire!

Now the text: this is such a fresh story. Kids will love hearing what those playful bats do at the beach while the rest of the world is fast asleep.

This one is a pure joy from start to finish - and one that your kids will ask for again and again.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!, July 3, 2006

By	tipps (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

I love this book. It's beautiful and sweet, and very clever. (I especially like the young bat wearing a life vest.) The most wonderful aspect, though, is depiction of bats as gentle, social animals. I really love this book and hope to see more bat outtings in the future.