Bats Around the Clock

by Kathi Appelt, Melissa Sweet (Illustrator)

Overview

It's fun to tell time as you dance around the clock!

Put on your dancing shoes and get ready to boogie! It's American Batstand - a twelve-hour rock and roll extravaganza with Click Dark as your host. Decked in go-go boots and bobby sox, the buoyant bats bebop their way around the clock. And there's a special guest appearance at the end!

With their swinging text and groovy illustrations, the creators of Bat Jamboree and Bats on Parade don't miss a beat when it comes to the basics. Telling time has never been so much fun!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780688164690
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/05/2000
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.25(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kathi Appelt is the author of the Newbery Honoree, National Book Award finalist, PEN USA Literary Award–winning, and bestselling The Underneath, as well as the National Book Award finalist The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, Keeper, and many picture books, including Counting Crows. She has two grown children and lives in College Station, Texas, with her husband. Visit her at www.kathiappelt.com.

Melissa Sweet has illustrated more than one hundred books, including Kwame Alexander’s How to Read a Book and How to Write a Poem, and has written and illustrated her own work. Her work has been featured in magazines, on greeting cards, and on living room walls. Melissa has received the Caldecott Honor Medal twice, among many other awards, including the Sibert Award, and is a New York Times bestselling author and artist. Melissa lives in Maine. You can visit her at melissasweet.net.

Editorial Reviews

"The rhyming text rocks through a special 12-hour American Batstand, beginning with the shrug and the jitterbug and including the hokeypokey."—"Publisher's Weekly"Ages 5-7. The infectious energy of Sweet's pop-eyed, floppy-winged bats show no signs of abating in this third and wild rumpus, after "Bats Jamboree (1996) and "Bats On Parade (1999). Emceed by host Click Dark, a twelve-hour dance program take bats coast to coast through the Shrug, the Jitterbug, the Swim, the Twist, the Locomotion, and so on, capped by a set from the bat king himself, in blue suede shoes. An irresistible invitation to children (and adults of a certain age) to get up and dance in the aisles."—"BooklistLights, camera, action; it's American Batstand, a 12-hour marathon of nonstop shake, rattle, and roll hosted by the ageless Click Dark. Captivating cartoon critters decked out in their best disco duds shimmy, shrug, and swim to the beat that changes every hour on the hour. Rhyming text carries the reader through a musical repertoire from jitterbug to jive. "There was rockin' in the rafters—/ there was dancing in the street. / Then they did the locomotion / and they boogied to the beat." Or "They twisted left and twisted right / until the hour of seven. / There was shakin', there was shoutin' —it was rockin' rollin' heaven!" Some of this may fly right over the heads of the intended audience, but they will certainly enjoy the rythm of the poetry and the chance to dance the bop. And they might learn a little bit about telling time, too, since a mouse holds a clock on each page with a time change. This is the third bat book from this team and they seem to have the formula stirred just right. Boogie down.("Picture book." 4-6) —"Kirkus Reviews"This takeoff on "American Bandstand" adds a twist to learning-to-tell-time books. Click Dark, the bat-version host of "American Batstand," leads a 12-hour dance program. A rhyming verse teaches children how to tell time while dancing to the oldies. The enthusiastic bats jitterbug, do the swim, the locomotion, the twist with "Chubby Checkers, " the hootchi-coo, and the the bugaloo. At the bottom of each page, a mouse holds a clock that advances from 1:00 p.m. to 12:00 midnight as the show progresses. In a satisfying conclusion, as the TV audience awaits the "final demonstration, " a solitary bat leaps out...in blue suede shoes. the rhymes are delightful and the narrative jives right along. Children will love them.—"School Library Journal"

From the Publisher

Lights, camera, action; it's American Batstand, a 12hour marathon of nonstop shake, rattle, and roll hosted by the ageless Click Dark. Captivating cartoon critters decked out in their best disco duds shimmy, shrug, and swim to a beat that changes every hour on the hour. Rhyming text carries the reader through a musical repertoire from jitterbug to jive. "There was rockin' in the rafters— / there was dancin' in the street. / Then they did the locomotion / and they boogied to the beat." Or "They twisted left and twisted right / until the hour of seven. / There was shakin', there was shoutin'—it was rockin' rollin' heaven!" Some of this may fly right over the heads of the intended audience, but they will certainly enjoy the rhythm of the poetry and the chance to dance the bop. And they might learn a little bit about telling time, too, since a mouse holds a small clock on each page with a time change. This is the third bat math book from this team and they seem to have the formula stirred just right. Boogie down. (Picture book. 46)

Kirkus Reviews