Stellaluna is about a baby bat who gets separated from her mother. She ends up in a nest with birds and begins to do everything birds do like sleeping at night (instead of the day like a bat), eating insects (instead of fruit), and sleeping in a nest (instead of hanging from a tree branch). One day she goes flying with her bird friends and gets separated from them. She ends up meeting some bats and one of them turns out to be her mother. Stellaluna is so excited to show her mom her new bird friends. Stellaluna soon comes to realize that her and the birds are very different but they can still be friends.
I thought this book had great information about bats in it. Even though it is fiction children get to learn about bats, what they eat, where, when, and how they sleep, and when and how they fly. They are able to learn this without actually knowing they are learning. Stellaluna experiences many emotions throughout this book and children will also experience these emotions with her and relate to these different emotions.
I think this book could be used in Prek-3 grades to inform students about bats. It can also be used in these grades as a way to introduce a unit about bats. Teachers will have to read this book to their students in the younger grades and explain a few words that may be new to the students but all students will enjoy reading about Stellaluna.
When thinking about this book in relation to what we discuss in ESL classes, this would be a nice link to children knowing that even if their home culture is different than what they notice in some aspects of school or in their peers, it is okay.
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