Starred Review ALA Booklist (Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2010)

Starred Review With clear, informal prose and beautiful close-up color photos on every double-page spread, this exciting title in the Scientists in the Field series follows a team of dedicated bat specialists. Along the way, Carson dispels popular myths about the often maligned animals with solid information: bats are not blind, very few drink blood, and they are important pest controllers. The color photographs, including many full-page images, are spellbinding, from the image of a Texas cave filled with millions of adult bats to a close-up view of a single, walnut-sized baby. Many facts will be new to most readers ts are the only mammals that fly; more than one-fifth of all the roughly 5,000 mammal species are bats d young people will be easily drawn in by Carson's lucid, fascinating explanations of concepts and her vivid descriptions of scientists at work. The conservation message is urgent: bats' habitats are quickly disappearing because of overhunting, tourism, mining, and many other human-related causes. Whether describing the physics of echolocation or the present crisis of white-nose syndrome, Carson encourages readers to rethink stereotypes about creatures once scorned as flying vermin and shows how intricately their survival is tied to our own. Extensive back matter, including a glossary and a bibliography of books and Web sites, closes this standout resource.

Horn Book

With deft description and careful explanation, Carson profiles Bat Conservation International (BCI) as it researches the misunderstood title creatures. Clear text debunks "Batty Myths"--bats aren't flying mice nor do they suck blood--as it highlights BCI's conservation efforts. Uhlman's large photos are not for the squeamish, but many of his shots have a stately beauty. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind.

School Library Journal (Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2010)

Gr 5-8 This series entry takes readers along with Merlin Tuttle and a crew of BCI (Bat Conservation International) into bat caves and bridges, trees and houses to study these agile flitterers. Carson's readable, informative text dispels the ugly myths that have haunted these nocturnal hunter/gatherers, detailing bats' usefulness to humankind from gobbling up mosquitoes to scarfing down corn earworm moths to pollinating a multitude of plants throughout the rain forest. Replete with superb close-ups of big ears, hairless pups, furrowed faces, and fragile wings, the text describes the damage done by humans to bat environments and the ravages of white-nose syndrome, and tells of efforts to restore and protect hibernating sites and maternity colonies. Readers not ready for this richness of detail should enjoy Laurence Pringle's Handsome Bats (Boyds Mills, 2000), while those wanting more can plunge into Sandra Markle's elegant Inside and Outside Bats (S &; S/Atheneum, 1997). Readers in the "more, more, more" contingent can investigate Karen Taschek's more challenging Hanging with Bats (Univ. of Mexico Press, 2008). A strong scientific look at a unique and often unloved mammal and the scientists who happily investigate them. Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY