Stellaluna

K-Gr 3-- This story of friendship despite differences begins when Stellaluna, a baby fruit bat, and her mother are attacked by an owl. Stellaluna falls from the sky and lands in a nest occupied by three baby birds. Here she learns to eat what they eat, to fly during the day, and to avoid hanging by her feet so that she can remain in the nest with her new friends. But this adopted life is not without its embarrassments, and Stellaluna flies into the night to avoid being seen clumsily trying to land on a branch. A group of fruit bats discovers the exhausted fledgling and she is happily reunited with her mother. While the text is undistinguished and rather didactic, the illustrations, done in acrylic and colored pencil, are lovely. Stellaluna will win many hearts as she is seen in full-page illustrations bordered in white opening her mouth wide to receive a proffered grasshopper; hanging by her feet with her bird friends; or promising Mama Bird that she will behave properly. Young readers will struggle with her as she tries to land on a branch, and rejoice when they see Mother Bat enfold her newly found baby in her wings. And sharp eyes will notice, long before Stellaluna does, that Mother Bat is alive and has been searching for her baby all along. Two pages of notes at the end of the story provide interesting information about bats, and the fruit bat in particular. This very promising debut accords a fictional entry into the world of bats. Use it with Millicent E. Selsam and Joyce Hunt's A First Look at Bats (Walker, 1991).-- Marianne Saccardi, Whitby School American Montessori Center, Greenwich, CT