Trick or Treat, Bugs to Eat

July 26, 2021
Not everyone is looking to score candy on Halloween night in this adventure with a basis in nonfiction. Instead, “Trick or treat!/ Smell my feet!// Give me lots of/ bugs to eat!” is the rallying chant for a wide-eyed pink and purple bat who gleefully gobbles up all manner of creepy-crawlies on the pages. Though Gold’s lighthearted lines convey nuggets of information, those describing aspects of echolocation focus more on rhyme than on clarity (“Hear my calls/ bounce off walls, // echoing as/ darkness falls”). At the end of its moonlit flight, the satisfied bat has a belly full of flies, crickets, and beetles—and readers may be scanning the night skies for more bat friends. Back matter includes several pages of bat-related facts. Ages 4–8.

August 1, 2021
A bat takes flight, eating its way through the sky on Halloween night. Starting off by quoting the familiar "Trick or treat! / Smell my feet!" singsong-y childhood rhyme, the story follows in that same cadence, which works smoothly for the most part. A little bat flies out at twilight, using echolocation to find moths, flies, and other bugs to munch on. A few pages of "Bat Facts" at the conclusion of the story discuss more about what bats eat, introduce different types that live in the U.S., explain how they echolocate, and offer a nice reminder to treat them with respect. Leschnikoff's illustrations show their young bat protagonist in shades of blue and purple with pink inside its ears and wings. The anthropomorphized eyes and facial features keep it cute, even with its teeny little fangs. The insects are carefully drawn with nice detail, and, refreshingly, the paper-wasps' nest is inhabited by wasps rather than bees. Although there are some brief mentions of Halloween, the text concentrates on bats and bugs. The illustrations do give little nods to the holiday with pumpkins and jack-o'-lanterns, and the final double-page spread features a set of adorable haunted houses and the silhouettes of trick-or-treaters beneath the full moon. A playful and informative ode to bats. (Picture book. 2-5)

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