Bats in the Band

Starred review from July 14, 2014
Given how important echolocation is to bats, it should come as no surprise that they’re secret music-lovers. That’s the case with Lies’s colony, anyway, back in a fourth book. When night falls, the bats head to a summer theater where act after act takes the stage—there’s a string section that hangs upside down while playing, as well as singers in a variety of genres (“Next up, there’s a country song—/ some lonesome bat done someone wrong”). Humorous touches abound in Lies’s characteristically polished acrylic paintings, and the bats’ infectiously joyful music-making will have readers reaching for the nearest noisemaker or instrument. Ages 4–8.