Bats at the Ballgame

by Brian Lies

Overview

On deck and ready for your reading lineup, New York Times bestselling author-illustrator Brian Lies’s ode to “batty” baseball fans.

You think humans are the only ones who enjoy America’s national pastime? Grab your bat—the other kind—and your mitt, because it’s a whole new ballgame when evening falls and bats come fluttering from the rafters to watch their all-stars compete.

Get set to be transported to the right-side-up and upside-down world of bats at play, as imagined and illustrated by bestselling author-illustrator Brian Lies.

Hurry up! Come one—come all! We’re off to watch the bats play ball!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547249704
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/06/2010
Series:	A Bat Book
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.70(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD620L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Brian Lies is the New York Times bestselling creator of Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Library, Bats at the Ballgame, Bats in the Band, and the Caldecott Honor book The Rough Patch. He has written and/or illustrated dozens of other acclaimed books for children. He lives with his family in a small seaside town in Massachusetts, where he tends a big and thriving garden. 

Editorial Reviews

"Baseball stadiums have an innate magic, never more so than in the hands of Lies, whose latest has the winged creatures gathering for an epic game, complete with 'beenuts and Cricket Jack,' and an upside down audience" —Publishers Weekly, starred review "The visual effect is quite stunning, with some fantastically disorienting upside-down spreads to reflect the fans' hanging position, and much of the language is utterly delicious."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review "Careful readers will find plenty of inventive details to make this latest outing to the bats’ nocturnal world worthwhile." —School Library Journal Praise for Brian Lies’ New York Times best-selling books: Bats at the Beach "Brilliant, brilliant paintings . . . just a whiz-bang summer book, anytime book. Everybody should look at this." —Daniel Pinkwater, NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday "Perfect for sharing with younglings of the wingless sort." —Kirkus Reviews "The book truly soars in the dark yet luminescent art. . . . A grand adventure." —School Library Journal "Fetching . . . [A] wonderful read-aloud." —Newsday Bats at the Library "The library-after-dark setting works a magic all its own, taking Lies and his audience to an intensely personal place." —Publishers Weekly, starred review "[Lies] brings a sure, expressive and transporting hand to this story of a colony of bats paying a nighttime visit to a small-town library." —Kirkus Reviews "Illustrations teem with bats so charming they will even win over chiroptophobes." —Booklist "Another tale of bat mischief . . . the charm is all in the story itself." —New York Times Book Review —

From the Publisher

Previously Lies has given his bats nights at the library and the beach with great success. Now they play night baseball on a ballfield laid out under a circus tent with crowds of bat fans and vendors selling appropriate snacks like "mothdogs." The game proceeds with swoops and slides and a win for the home team. The action is described in verse with the rhymes in easy, breezy aabb form for setup and denouement and heightened "Casey at the Bat" cadences and couplets for the game itself. Lies's acrylic illustrations appear as full- and double-page spreads and scattered, unframed vignettes, and all are filled with copious detail depicting uniforms, regalia and play-by-play. The visual effect is quite stunning, with some fantastically disorienting upside-down spreads to reflect the fans' hanging position, and much of the language is utterly delicious. A broad knowledge of baseball and its place in the American consciousness is assumed, as is an ability to roll with rather sophisticated vocabulary and phrasing. But as a read-aloud by a baseball fan, it's sure to inspire a love of the game—and maybe of bats as well. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews