Diane Ackerman

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Published by: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Release Date: July 22, 1997
Pages: 30
ISBN13: ‎ 978-0517709207

 
OVERVIEW

Naturalist Diane Ackerman takes a beguiling look at the complex world of the bat--one of the most varied and mysterious of animals. Ackerman describes a visit, with distinguished photographer and bat expert Merlin Tuttle, to the Big Bend national park area of Texas. At this location, she observes the nightly emergence of over 20 million bats from Bracken Cave and helps to track them for study. More than 50 spectacular color photographs enliven this poetic and informative addition to a child’s natural history shelf.

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PRAISE

"Superb photographs are perfectly matched with an insightful, lyrical text as Ackerman recounts a personal trip to explore the bat diversity of Texas in company with Merlin Tuttle, the leading authority on these aerial flitterers. While much bat data is imparted on these glossy pages, it is the author's unique viewpoint that empowers the narrative. She sees bats as spending "their whole lives yelling at the world and each other" and describes a mass emergence as "a swarm of flying black peppercorns." Tuttle's marvelously detailed, full-color photos present an enormous variety of bats, from the tiniest bumblebee bat of the Southeast Asian rain forests to the more common little brown bat of urban parks and suburban backyards. Teamed with such titles as Laurence Pringle's Batman (Scribner, 1991) and Betsy Maestro's Bats (Scholastic, 1994), this book would make an excellent science/literature unit. However, this handsome title will be even more appreciated by readers who delight in fine writing, personal curiosity, and brilliant photography."
—Library School Journal