FROM OUR EDITORS

Stellaluna, a little brown bat, is accidentally dropped by her mother. The helpless baby falls smack into a nest of bird fledglings, and is immediately accepted as one of the family. Stellaluna tries to fit in, but keeps acting unbirdlike; hanging upside down and wanting to fly at night. By chance Stellaluna is reunited with her mother and finally learns to be proper bat. Cannon's breathtaking illustrations make this a gift-giving favorite.

ANNOTATION

After she falls headfirst into a bird's nest, a baby bat is raised like a bird until she is reunited with her mother.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Knocked from her mother's safe embrace by an attacking owl, Stellaluna lands headfirst in a bird's nest. This adorable baby fruit bat's world is literally turned upside down when she is adopted by the occupants of the nest and adapts to their peculiar bird habits. Two pages of notes at the end of the story provide factual information about bats.

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature - Beverly Kobrin

Read aloud or recommend Stellaluna for fictional perspectives on bats. In this tale, which concludes with two pages of facts about the flying mammals, a baby fruit bat is adopted by birds.

School Library Journal

With Janell Cannon's popular picture book as its main feature, this recording includes other stories on bats as wellHattie, the Backstage Bat by Don Freeman and narrator David Holt's version of Why the Bats Fly at Night. There's also a short, factual account of bats, followed by "Stellaluna's Theme," a brief piece of music that sounds like a folk lullaby. To hear Stellaluna read aloud is to realize just how much the illustrations contribute to its appeal in book form; it simply doesn't do well orally, despite David Holt's enthusiastic efforts. The other selections, accompanied by dim, disjointed strains of music, don't fare much betterespecially the part about "amazing bat facts" in which children are urged to set up their own bat houses in order to reduce the numbers of annoying insects in the air. "Wouldn't it be nice to have Stellaluna in your backyard?," Holt asks earnestly. Alas, his facts are wrong. Stellaluna doesn't eat insects; as a fruit bat she eats fruit. Those wishing to educate children about bats are advised to skip this effort in favor of the growing numbers of fine books on the subject.-Carol Katz, Harrison Public Library, NY

BookList - Chris Sherman

After Stellaluna and her mother are attacked by an owl, the tiny fruit bat lands headfirst in a bird's nest. The mother bird allows Stellaluna to stay, as long as Stellaluna doesn't teach the bird babies bad tricks--like hanging upside down from the nest to sleep. Stellaluna wants to be as graceful as the baby birds, but she's graceful only when she's flying. A bat discovers Stellaluna, who's been separated from the birds, sleeping wrong end up. It calls other bats to see this strange little creature, and a very happy Stellaluna is reunited with her mother to learn proper bat behavior. When the birds visit Stellaluna's bat family, the little bat discovers that baby birds are as clumsy at being bats as Stellaluna was at trying to be a bird. Cannon's delightful story is full of gentle humor, and even young children will understand the little bat's need to fit in. Cannon provides good information about bats in the story, amplifying it in two pages of notes at the end of the book. Her full-page colored-pencil-and-acrylic paintings fairly glow: Stellaluna's depiction reflects the starlight and moonlight of the bat's name, and the pictures of the creature hauling herself onto a limb, hanging by her thumbs, and "joy-flying" are truly amusing. The facing pages of text include small, charming ink sketches that show what happens as Stellaluna's mother searches for her baby.