Hello, Bumblebee Bat by Darrin Lunde, Patricia J. Wynne (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

My name is Bumblebee Bat. I may be small, but I'm a great flyer. I live in a secret cave with my brothers and sisters.

Want to know more? Then open this book and fly with Bumblebee Bat into the night. A series of questions and answers introduce children to the life and habitat of the exotic and endangered Bumblebee Bat. Scientifcally accurate illustration make these exotic animals accessible to young readers. Back matter includes additional child-friendly facts.

Children's Literature

Meet the bumblebee bat, the smallest bat in the world. Presented in an engaging question-and-answer format with full-page illustrations on each facing page, kids will learn all the basic facts about this recently discovered native of Thailand, including its remarkably diminutive size: "Bumblebee bat, how small are you?" "My body is one inch long. I am six inches wide when I spread my wings." Also known as the Kitti's hog-nosed bat (its nose looks like a pig's snout), this tiny creature is highly endangered, and this book explains why: "I am afraid of humans...Humans sometimes burn the forest near my home." The up-close multimedia illustrations pull the reader into the bumblebee bat's world and its daily life. The last two pages of the book list several additional facts about this bat. A wonderful choice to share with preschoolers, kindergarteners and first graders!

Kirkus Reviews

Framed as simply phrased questions and answers in differently sized type, this interview with the world's smallest bat-at rest, about the size of a quarter, as a life-sized view on the final page attests-will fill in younger naturalists on its looks, diet, enemies ("Bumblebee Bat, what do you fear?" "I am afraid of humans and birds") and habits. Generally wearing a fixed-looking smile and facing viewers directly, the interviewee flits across twilit, precisely detailed painted scenes, posing next to a bee and a mouse for scale, hunting and chowing down on a moth and then retiring to a sleeping cave with its "brothers and sisters." Rare enough to be officially endangered, these diminutive creatures get at least a mention in most of the general introductions to bats, but they're highlighted here with a distinctive charm that's likely to linger with children. Jill C. Wheeler's photo-illustrated Bumblebee Bats (2005) is aimed at a slightly older audience. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-7)

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