Batty for the Library!

Bats at the Library by Brian Lies is a wonderful tale of….bats at the library. Full of charming rhyme, Bats at the Library tells the tale of a colony of bats who wait for the day when the library is once again open and they are free to wander around throughout the night. Using beautiful pictures to accompany catchy prose, Lies weaves a story that would inspire a trip to the library from even the most hesitant child. Lies begins his story with the bats thinking about how boring their lives are. They then catch word that a window has been left open in the library and are filled with excitement at the chance to go and explore there. The excitement for reading can be heard in every word as Lies introduces the main setting. The story than goes through how all of the bats react to the library, highlighting on the young bats who spend their time at first messing around and a little reluctant to go find books. But then, when the bats settle down, the true love of reading that Lies is encouraging begins to shine through.
“And if we listen, we will hear
Some distant voices drawing near –
Louder, louder, loud still
They coax and pull us in until…
Everyone – old bat or pup –
Has been completely swallowed up
And lives inside a book instead
Of simply hearing something read.
With enchanting rhyme, Lies pays tribute to a number of children’s stories, including Pippi Longstocking and Little Red Riding Hood while also showing how easily one can get lost in a book. By seeing their favorite characters replaced with bats, children can begin to see how they can feel as though they are actually inside the book that they are reading. This book is perfect for early elementary students to inspire them to love reading just as they are learning to read. One can use this book to teach rhyme and help students to learn how to phrase as they are reading.
Bats in the Library ends with the bats being forced to leave the library as dawn approaches and dreaming about when they will next have the opportunity to go to the library. This translate into the real world well, showing the excitement that students have when they get to go to the library once a week to pick out the books that they can read for the next week. This is a book that I would use at the beginning of the year before the first trip to the library. I feel that it has all the excitement and enthusiasm that is needed to introduce students to the wonderful aspects of the library that they can explore on their trips there and is exactly the type of book teachers need to be looking for.