Bats: Learning to Fly (Science Comics Series)

by Falynn Koch, Falynn Koch (Illustrator)

Overview

Every volume of Science Comics offers a complete introduction to a particular topic—dinosaurs, coral reefs, the solar system, volcanoes, bats, flying machines, and more. These gorgeously illustrated graphic novels offer wildly entertaining views of their subjects. Whether you're a fourth grader doing a natural science unit at school or a thirty-year-old with a secret passion for airplanes, these books are for you!

This volume: In Bats, we follow a little brown bat whose wing is injured by humans on a nature hike. He is taken to a bat rehabilitation center where he meets many different species of bats. They teach him how they fly, what they eat, and where they like to live.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626724099
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	02/28/2017
Series:	Science Comics Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	495,682
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	GN650L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Falynn Koch was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. She has an MFA in sequential art from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta and is a graduate of the International Culinary Center in New York City. She loves to travel and explore the outdoors with her husband and occasionally her dogs. Her books from First Second include Science Comics: Bats, Science Comics: Plagues, Maker Comics: Bake Like a Pro!, History Comics: The National Parks, History Comics: The Wild Mustangs (with writer Chris Duffy), and Science Comics: Elephants (with writer Jason Viola).

Editorial Reviews

"The writing is accessible and engaging, and the level of content is detailed enough for young researchers, but casual browsers and graphic novel enthusiasts will find this an attractive choice, too." —School Library Journal, starred review

"With plenty of informative back matter, this inviting, engaging nonfiction comic is perfect for kids hungry for science." —Booklist

"Neatly drawn illustrations." —Kirkus

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2017
Gr 3–7—This latest in the science-related graphic novel series turns its focused eye to the world of bats. A little brown bat is lost in a Southwestern desert at night, just as a group of nature lovers are out for a tour. Injured in a commotion with the humans, the bat is taken to a wild animal hospital. This loose story line allows the author to include facts about a wide variety of bats, some native to the area and some not. At the hospital, a number of creatures introduce themselves, describing their eating habits, physical characteristics, and habitats. Humor is abundant throughout, as bats explore their own misinformation about people. Human/bat interactions are a large part of the book, and Koch demystifies commonly held beliefs about bats and discusses habitat loss. The writing is accessible and engaging, and the level of content is detailed enough for young researchers, but casual browsers and graphic novel enthusiasts will find this an attractive choice, too. VERDICT An excellent addition to school and classroom libraries.—Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA

School Library Journal

2016-11-16
Along with an injured little brown bat, readers meet over a dozen other bat species and learn all about bat behavior.The plotline and the pedagogy are largely unintegrated, and they often battle on the page for attention. Signaled by a change of background color, rows and boxes of information about bat anatomy, flight, diet, echolocation, research, and other topics shoehorn themselves arbitrarily into the bat protagonist's disastrous encounter with a group of desert tourists and subsequent stay at a veterinary hospital. As his broken wing heals, he meets other bats from around the world ("Namaste" says an Indian flying fox. "And 'ello lil mate! Whaddya they call ya?" greets a fruit bat from Australia) who are likewise injured or disabled. By the time his wing is healed, he's learned to accept differences in others, and readers have learned not only how bats live, but how to coexist with them. Koch piles on a reading list along with information about bat careers and shelters at the end. In her neatly drawn illustrations, the bats are diverse in appearance, but aside from some children in classroom settings, the vet and most other human figures are light-skinned. Lots of science and a little story—but it's an uneasy mix. (Graphic informational fiction. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews