Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel

[Linda Sears <UA12X1@AOL.COM>]

Shade is a bat who suffers from being the runt of the litter.  His eagerness
to prove that he is as good as the rest of the young bats leads him into
serious trouble.  He breaks an ancient law and in retaliation, the nesting
home of all the Silverwing bats is destroyed.  During migration to
Hibernaculum, Shade is separated from the group and has to fend for himself.
Things go from bad to worse.  The characters in this book, Shade himself, the
sinister Goth and his henchman Throb, and Frieda, the tribal ancient, are
well written.  There will be a sequel (Sunwing) coming out next summer.  If
it's as good as Silverwing, it will be well worth reading,too.
    I read this while home sick--it started a little slowly for me, but I
think it was because I felt so bad.  Once I got into it, I thought is was
pretty good.  With all the emphasis on fantasy now because of Harry Potter,
this is a good animal fantasy to suggest.  About 210 pages--a Smithsonian
Notable book for children; Aladdin paperback.

Linda Sears, LMS, MLIS
Oak Mtn. Intermediate School
Birmingham, AL
UA12x1@aol.com

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=
All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law.
 To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST), send email to:
   listserv@listserv.syr.edu          In the message write EITHER:
    1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST
 4) SET LM_NET MAIL  * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv
 For LM_NET Help & Archives see:  http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=