Friday, January 26, 2007
Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies
On a full-moon night, the bats in the attic go to the beach, taking with them everything that human beach-goers do: towels, beach bags, books and plenty to eat. The fun is in how the bats adapt our notion of a beach trip to their own situation and preferences--Bain de Lune moontan lotion, toasted marshmallows with protruding insect legs, sand caves, and much, much more. The story is told in rhyme. The superb illlustrations are detailed and add gentle humor to a story with which any family beach-tripper can identify.
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2 comments:
This one's a keeper. I heard Daniel Pinkwater's commentary on this book on NPR (see back cover) and he couldn't say enough wonderful things about it. The light and dark contrasts in the paintings are very well executed. Rhymes are in couplets, which will make for easy listening. You could read this aloud to younger kids or use it with students who are a bit older to discuss fantasy versus reality. Bats have never been this adorable.
I laughed out loud at clever parts of this – both text and illustrations! I also enjoyed brainstorming some curriculum connections. I’m thinking that it would be fun to pair with a nonfiction book on bats and use with a small reading group. A few years ago, I had a small reading group that researched bats and this book would have been a great addition (maybe an introduction) to our unit. I could see researching to find out if bats really do have pouches for their young and also finding out what different types of bats eat. Depending on the reading level of the students, I would use with 1st or 2nd graders.
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