“Bats at the Library,” story and illustrations by Brian Lies Houghton Mifflin, $16, 32 pages, ages 4 to 8. But the author/artist outdoes himself: the library-after-dark setting works a magic all its own, taking Lies and his audience to an intensely personal place. As with its predecessor, this book’s richly detailed chiaroscuro paintings find considerable humor at the intersection where bat and human behavior meet. Although the young ones initially misbehave (they make photocopies of their bodies and turn the water fountain into a splash pool), Lies cuts them a little slack: “It’s hard to settle down and read/ when life flits by at dizzy speed.” Story time settles everyone (upside-)down, and soon the furry creatures are “completely swallowed up” in books, giving Lies comic license to bat-tify the signature visuals from classics like Make Way For Ducklings Pippi Longstocking Goodnight, Moon and Peter Rabbit. Lies’s ( Bats at the Beach) much-lauded bats are back and the library’s got them-thanks to a window left open by an unsuspecting (or perhaps sympathetic) librarian. Starred review, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. July 14, 2008īrian Lies.
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