A Bat Cave: An Abecedarian Bedtime Chronicle
By Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrated by Jeffery Boston Weatherford
32 pages, paperback, ISBN 978-1490523644
Publisher: Great Brain Entertainment/Createspace, 2013
A Bat Cave: An Abecedarian Bedtime Chronicle follows bats from their lairs into the night air. A sparse nature poem with text arranged alphabetically revels in “b-attributes” as fangs, echolocation, nocturnal feeding, and sleeping upside down. Cinematic digital art conjures a dreamscape while depicting various bats and habitats. Back matter gives more amazing bat facts. For ages 2-7.
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REVIEWS: Preview the text and see comments here.
PRE-READING QUESTIONS
- Have you ever seen live bats?
- What do bats look like? What makes bats special?
- Where do bats live?
- What do bats eat?
- Are bats harmful or helpful?
- What is poetry?
VOCABULARY: abecedarian, chronicle, descends, eerie, fanged, gothic, insectivores, prey, quenched, vampire, exhausted
SUGGESTION: read aloud the back matter before sharing the book itself.
POST-READING QUESTIONS
- The poem has only 41 words, each one chosen for a purpose. What is the purpose of the first three words in the book? Attic. Barn. Cave.
- What is the purpose of the next three words?
- How does the action rise in the next sentence.
- How does the action fall in the next sentence.
- Why did the author choose the terms “night owls” and “vampire-wannabes.”
- Read the back matter for answers to pre-reading questions 2, 3 and 4.
LESSON IDEAS (Download the Bat Pollinator Activity Book from Bat Conservation International)
- Find out if there is a large bat colony in your city or state. If not, search online for a bat colony. Two of the world’s largest bat colonies are in Texas. List three bat facts about the colony or about bat species that live(s) there?
- Write down the definition of “nocturnal.” Do a Web Quest for animals that are nocturnal. Make a list of ten nocturnal animals.
- Read the infographic “Why Bats Matter” from Bat Conservation International. Page 1, Page 2 Write a paragraph about how bats help humans.
- Read the infographic “The Amazing Superpowers of Bats” from Bat Conservation International. If you had the superpowers of bats, how would you use them?
- According to the San Diego Zoo, there are myths about bats than about any other animal. In the Bat Pollinator Activity Book (download above), read the handout “Bat Myths and Truths.” After reading, answer these questions.
- Which myths had you heard before? Did you believe the myths were true?
- Which truths do you find most amazing?
- Why are there so many myths about bats?
- Write three sentences in which the words are in alphabetical order.
- The acrostic is another form of alphabetical text. The Poetry Foundation defines an acrostic as “a poem in which the first letter of each line spells out a word, name, or phrase when read vertically.” Write your own acrostic using the title of this book: A BAT CAVE.
- Read about how bats fly. Then, download a Bat Plane to fold.
HOW COOL ARE BATS? FIND OUT AT THESE LINKS.
Bat Conservation International
Record-breaking bat caves of Texas
BATS IN POPULAR CULTURE
1966 Batman lunchbox
Dracula is an 1897 horror novel by Bram Stoker. It introduced Count Dracula, a vampire that can turn into a bat, a wolf or a mist. There have been several movies based on the novel.
The fictional superhero Batman debuted in a 1939 detective comic from DC Comics. The character has since appeared in a television series, films and spawned countless products from T-shirts and lunchboxes to toys.
The short animated film Bats in the Belfry was released in 1942.
Bats at 37 Military Hospital in Accra, Ghana –Read about the legend behind this colony of a million bats. Watch the bats in flight.
children's books by the weatherfords 
