This is my daughter’s absolute favorite part of the book, and she LOVES figuring out what books Lies is referring to in his super-clever illustrations. There’s a bat Pippi Longstocking, a bat version of Make Way for Ducklings, bat Alice in Wonderland (this time, with a Cheshire bat), bat Winnie-the-Pooh, a bat version of Wind in the Willows, and, my favorite, a bat-adaption of Margaret Wise Brown, of course, called Goodnight Sun. The real centerpiece of the picture book is a crackerjack 6-page story-time sequence where, as the bats read on, Lies shows us a visual montage of classic children’s books reimagined with bats as the main characters. To quote the bats at the end of their adventure:įor now, we’ll dream of things we’ve read His rhyming lines balance the bats’ cheeky excitement with a real reverence for the pleasures of reading. Lies is a masterful artist – his playful, detail-packed paintings remind me of the great David Wiesner – and, in Bats at the Library, his verse is almost just as equally well-executed. The basic premise is simple – a group of bored bats are excited to discover that a window has been left open at the town’s library, so the colony heads over for an impromptu “Bat Night at the library!” The good-natured, excitable bats (think Stellaluna, only cuter) have a grand old time, playing with the overhead projectors, splashing around in the water fountain, exploring pop-up books, and reading, reading, reading. It’s like bragging that you found this great new little boutique called “Target” that you just can’t wait to show to all your friends.īut, regardless of my lame personal hang-ups and constant need for affirmation, Bats at the Library has become a big favorite in our household on its merits alone. And, trust me, that hipster-esque ego charge of finding a book that “you probably haven’t heard of” becomes even more sad when you later realize that, even though you’ve never heard of it personally, the book in question was a best-seller (12 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list) and a major award winner (won the 2010 Bill Martin, Jr.
Remember that smug little sense of self-importance I spoke of earlier? I was totally awash in that sensation when my daughter and I discovered Bats at the Library in the remains of a very picked-over children’s section in a going out-of-business bookstore back in March. This was my experience with being introduced to Bats at the Library by Brian Lies, a completely sensational picture book, all about a charming colony of bats expressing their love for their local library.
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