Mod 1: Bats at the Library by Brian Lies

Summary:

Bats at the Library by Brian Lies tells the story of a group of bats spending the night in a library, which left its window open.  The bats spend their time reading books, playing games, and using the copier to make copies of themselves.  Eventually a group of bats stages a storytime for the other bats, and the bats find themselves engrossed in their stories as they become part of the book they are reading.  It all comes to an end with the sun begins to rise and all the bats leave the library before daybreak with the hope that the librarian will leave the window open again for them some time soon.

Lies, B. (2008). Bats at the Library. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co.

My Impressions:

A very fun book with a simple rhyme scheme.  The bats are all very cute and mouse like in appearance, which makes certain that these creatures of the night are in no way scary.  The bats all seem to find a love of reading, and it does a good job of illustrating how they loose themselves in their story, which is important for new readers to engage in.

Professional Review:

Bats at the Library BY (BRIAN LIES 32 pages. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008. (Ages 5-8)

Awards: International Reading Association Children's Choice; Book Sense 2009 Book of the Year Award; Bill Martin, Jr. Picture Book Award, Kansas Reading Association; Indie Choice Picture Book Award; Number 3 Picture Book of 2008, Time Magazine/CNN.

Following his delightful book, Bats at the Beach (2006), Brian Lies continues to offer readers a unique perspective of the world, the sometimes-upside-down view of a bat. This beautifully illustrated picture book, set in a library, conveys the pleasure of being lost in a good book as older bats teach their young offspring the power of stories.

[Written in gracefully rhyming couplets, this is the tale of a colony of bats that has grown bored with its nightly routine and is anxious for new experiences. Suddenly, word is sent out that a window in the local library has been left ajar. Swooping into the darkened building the older bats immediately lose themselves in the joys of the library. The bats settle down to read about their interests (such as fancy foods) or gather in clusters to talk about the ideas in the books they have read.

However, the younger bats have never been to a library. They invent games to play that include everything but engaging with books. They create shadow puppets using overhead projectors, make photocopies of their little bat bodies, play within the confines of a pop-up book, and raucously splash one another in the drinking fountain. The older bats must intervene to show their little ones the most splendid and powerful resources of the library -- the books. As the baby bats settle down for story time (some of them hanging upside down from the ledge of a table), they find themselves lost in the story. Lies speaks to the magic that occurs when readers are engrossed in a book: "everyone -- old bat or pup -- / has been completely swallowed up / and lives inside a book instead / of simply hearing something read" (p. 21). Before any of the bats can believe it, the sky has turned pale; morning is coming soon; and they must leave the library before they are discovered. All the bats depart with the hope that the librarians will leave the windows open again so that they can continue to experience the joy that immersing oneself in a book can bring.

Lies' illustrations bring the Bats at the Library to life. With subdued colors meant to represent the bats' nocturnal habitat, Lies humanizes the bats, complete with glasses, smiles, and for one baby bat, arm floaties, much like a young child might wear in a swimming pool. His illustrations also show bats engaging in real bat-like behaviors; for instance, during story time, the bats are surrounding a book that has been placed upside down, the better to accommodate the positioning of the bats hanging from the table ledge. In what are perhaps the most inspired pages of this creative book, Lies gives readers several text-free pages where bats are reimagined as the central figures in classic children's stories. The illustrations have even been designed in the style of the original illustrations in these classic works of children's literature. A bat with red, Pippi Longstockinged braids cartwheels across the page. A policeman halts traffic to "make way for bat-lings." A bat wearing a red cloak, hood pulled tight, hurries to grandmother's house. And a young girl studies a suspiciously cat-like bat with an enigmatic, Cheshire-grin hanging upside down from a tree. These exceedingly clever illustrations speak to all of us who have found ourselves so drawn into a story that we become a part of it. Lies' reimagining allows his readers to envision bats as the central characters in familiar stories.

The young bats squeak with excitement at finding themselves in the unfamiliar surroundings of a library. However, it is only with the older bats' assistance that they are able to grasp the true treasures this building holds. As is the tradition with human children, adults have the privilege of introducing the young to the power of stories.

Bats at the Library. (2011). Journal of Education, 191(2), 75.

Usage in a Library Setting:

This book could be used as part of a lesson or program for smaller children on what there is to do in the library, or how to use a library.  The book could be read as a fun way to start the program.