A Place for Bats

A book rich with text and photographs perfect for readers of many ages. So glad I added it to our collection!

I like bats. And I believe that more children today have a better understanding of these curious creatures than was the case when I was a boy. Melissa Stewart's _A Place for Bats_ (2012) is a recent science book for elementary age readers with a kind of "split text". There is a main text, giving basic facts about the lives of bats, their problems of survival (Did you know that bats get killed in wind turbines at night?), and things that you can do to save bats. This is written in clear, simple prose. But there are also sidebars-- often on bat species, sometimes on curious Bat Facts. These are written in a more advanced level of prose and bristle with more advanced facts. Thus young readers at several different levels can get something from the book.I like children's science books that are artistically excellent. And so it is here. The book is illustrated with some lovely paintings by Higgins Bond. Her paintings are in what I would call a sharply realistic style. Houses, trees, bat houses, swimming pools, and people are drawn with sharp, clean lines. So it is with the bats. There is nothing fuzzy or mystical about them. They are drawn so that we can easily see the difference between the bat species. The endpapers contain maps showing the range of twelve different species of bats. Eight of the twelve live in my home state of Tennessee. One species, the Virginia Big-Eared Bat, seems to live in a lot of states _around_ Tennessee-- but not in it. I wonder why.There is a good bibliography of Bat books and Bat websites. This book is highly recommended.

This book is directed at children in early grades, with the theme repeating that care needs to be taken so bats "live and grow." I like that message. Good information about bat species and their habitats. The first half of the book has an undeniably pessimistic tone about people harming bats and offers speculation as to the cause of white nose syndrome. The book never comes close to defining optimal bat population numbers.The book improves in the second half, looking at clever solutions people have come up with to protect bats and their habitats.We wanted more information on the Northern Yellow Bat, shown sleeping in palm trees in suburban Texas. We wonder whether palm-tree-sleeping is an adaptation that could help bats in other places where palm trees are used as plantings -- southern California or here at home in Arizona? We also had questions about migrating ranges for bat species -- the book did a good job showing current ranges, but no information of changes over time.Interesting book -- GREAT illustrations and maps. Well done.

A Place for Bats provides many interesting facts about bats, their habitats, how they are an important part of the environment, and how people can help them.People who like learning about nature, animals, and helping the environment and endangered species would enjoy this book. They are many beautiful pictures and information about how our actions can affect the bats.The last two pages of the book had a list of ways we can help bats and interesting facts about bats I never knew, such as the fact that they are the only mammals that can fly!Children ages 5 or older would like this book, especially people who enjoy helping animals.I give it 5 stars! It was different from other books that I've read because it gave me tips that we can use today to help bats.Review by Isaac V., age 6, Mensa Hawaii

A Place For Bats is a wonderfully informative picture book about bats and how human actions are negatively and positively effecting their continued existence on Earth; something they have been doing for 50 million years. Higgins Bond’s illustrations are stunning, filled with vibrant colors and beautiful perspective views. This would be a nice addition to any elementary library or classroom for aiding in discussions on conservation and earth science.Bats are so cute!!