"Stellaluna"

Stellaluna
Author: Janell Cannon
Illustrator: Janell Cannon
Genre: Picture Book
Subgenre: Informative, Animals
Theme: Differences between bats and birds
Primary/Secondary Characters: Mother Bat, Stellaluna, Flap, Flitter, Pip, Mother Bird
Date of Publication: Year 1993
Publishing Company: Harcourt, Inc.

Summary: Stellaluna, a young bat flies with Mother Bat one night when an owl attacks them and they are separated. Stellaluna still does not know how to fly, and falls into a nest of birds: Flip, Flitter and Pip. The birds teach Stellaluna their ways, and Mother Bird makes Stellaluna eat bugs, sleep right side up, and fly during the day. Stellaluna teaches the birds her ways, as the birds learn how to hang upside down but cannot do the rest of what bats can do, such as flying at night. Stellaluna is reunited with her mother, and introduces the bird family to Mother Bat. Mother Bat teaches Stellaluna to eat fruit, not bugs, and to perform the ways all bats do, and Stellaluna is a very happy being a bat.
This should be taught in a classroom, as it teaches the differences of birds and bats in a creative way. Many children may be under the assumption that since birds and bats both fly, that they live the same ways, which is not true. This clears up the confusion and students are able to identify each animal as being different in many ways, and similar in some.This could be used in a classroom, and have students fill out a venn diagram of the similarities and differences. There are also bat facts in the back to the book that could be useful in teaching students, as well.