Date: November 5th, 2014Author: Ari Berk; Illustrated by Loren LongTitle: Night SongPlot: Chiro is a young bat who is afraid of flying out into the world without his mother because of the darkness. His mother tells Chiro to use his good sense to explore what the world outside of the bat cave has to offer. Will Chiro find his good sense to explore the outside world?Setting: Chiro's bat-cave/home; Outside world Characters: Chiro/Little Wing; Chiro's mom (Momma)Point-of-View: Third-PersonTheme: Fear, Having good/common sense; overcoming fears, IndependenceStyle: Illustrations are dark (the mood is soothing; illustrations look like a mixture of paint, water-coloring, and colored pencils. In the beginning of the book, the illustrations' background are dark and nearly black; this might represent the "darkness" that Chiro fears. By the end of the book, the illustrations are lighter and features the a sunrise; this could represent the idea that the darkness does not affect him anymore because he has found good sense. I believe that the sea represents freedom, which is something that Chiro's mother was encouraging Chiro to do, to be able to find his own. Copyright: 2012Notes: I loved the book's illustrations and the "play" on lightness and darkness. This book would be great to be featured in a third, fourth, or fifth grade classroom. This beautifully done picture book follows the story of a little bat named Chiro. His mother tells him one evening that he is to fly out into the world on his own for once and use his "good sense" to find his way in the dark. When Chiro sets out, he runs into a few obstacles and then uses his mothers advice to be able to see things in a new light and look at the world around him with that "good sense".The first thing that stands out about this book are the images. They are done in a very dark and scratchy type of drawing, and you can see the lines in each of the drawings. The darker colors blend in with the blacks and grays, making the dark world come alive as Chiro navigates it. Another interesting effect that the author and illustrator have is whenever Chiro uses his "good sense" to see in the dark, that portion of the drawing then lights up and becomes the colors in which we are used to seeing them. It highlights the sense of echo-location that bats use for their sense of sight during their flights at night. As the dawn starts to break, the colors become brighter and warmer, showing just how far Chiro travels from home and how long he has to travel back. The text within the story is on the longer side for a picture book, but very eloquently done. It weaves a story of a baby bat that is finally traveling off on his own and realizing the wonders of the night and the world. Little kids and adults can relate to this because of their babies growing older and their kids wanting to have more freedom. Every parent has to let their children out into the world and on their own at some point, and all they can do is stand back and give them the advice they believe will help them survive. Chiro wanders far from home, but he does use his mothers advice and travels back safely in the end. I very much enjoyed the book because of the pictures and how well they were done. I found myself staying on certain pages just so I could take in the pictures and all the details that the illustrator decided to add into the image.
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