SummaryThis book begins with a group of bored bats entering a library through an open. While in the library, the bats enjoy every aspect of the library from the books on the shelf to the copy machine to the water fountain. After storytime, the bats flee the library in the approaching dawn, longing for the time they can return to the library for another night.
Bibliography
Lies, B. (2008). Bats at the library. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.
My Impression
I found this book to be a very cute book. The illustrations are very good in this book. They are very detailed, and the depth of color used is amazing. I enjoyed watching the bats explore and enjoy the library.
To Read or Not to Read: If your children are elementary age or younger, read this book. It will be something for you to explore with them over and over again.
Professional Reviews
School Library Monthly
"October is the time for bat stories! The unique book Bats at the Library, by Brian Lies, includes a storytime in the library for bats (Houghton Mifflin, 2008). Bats at the Library follows Lies' very popular book Bats at the Beach (Houghton Mifflin, 2006). When a library window is left ajar, news travels fast through the bat colony and what had started out as a normal kind of evening... turns into a very special, fun-filled evening in the public library. After much reading and much play with the photocopier and the water fountain, the bats all settle down in the library for an enchanting storytime. If the readers of Bats in the Library look closely, they'll see that the book is upside down!
Several pages of illustration in the book transport the reader to a number of stories such as Little Red Riding Hood, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Rabbit, Make Way for Ducklings, and Wizard of Oz which are commonly heard in the library. All the illustrations incorporate bat characters instead of the traditional ones." - Carolyn Brodie
Brodie, C. (2009, October). Bats, bats, and more bats! (Bats at the library). School Library Monthly, 55(10), 24-26. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com.
Journal of Education
"...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."
[Review of the book Bats in the library, by B. Lies]. (2011). Journal of Education, 191(2), 75. Retrieved from http://www.bu.edu/journalofeducation/.
Library Uses
This would be a great book for libraries to use for library orientations with young children. After reading it to children, a librarian could use the book as a springboard to a discussion on how to use the library and appropriate behavior in the library.
Image retrieved from: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bats-at-the-library-brian-lies/1100233350?ean=9780618999231&itm=1&usri=bats+at+the+library
