David Gullan is a primary school teacher, whose love of Australian wildlife has found expression in writing picture books including Life in a Hollow and Last Bat of the Night.
Samantha Metcalfe is a natural history Illustrator who finds inspiration in the Australian bush. She works primarily in colour pencil, and her first illustrated book, Carmichael’s Journey (with Shelly Fussell) was shortlisted for the 2019 Children’s Book Council of Australia Award for New Illustrator.
Its the end of the day in the park, families are packing up getting ready to go home but up in the trees the action is just starting as the ‘bats sprawl and screech amongh stars overhead, the children entranced as they head home to bed‘. The reader meets several different species of bats as each one has a separate adventure, whether it be eating a Moreton Bag fig, drinking from their own wet fur dipped in water, or breaking free from a net. The children leave the park knowing that the many bats will be enjoying their time in the night.
Samantha has captured that glowing end of day light when bats start appearing. She has also done a great job of distinguishing the different species, (all bats looked the same to me before I read this). I don’t know why this is written in verse as it doesn’t seem necessary to the aim of the book, but there are occasional lovely phrases, ‘this highway of shadows never seems to end‘ and he does manage to pack in plenty of information.
This is a simple way to introduce bats to young readers. There are six animals featured and discussed in more detail in the back matter. Here we learn about the characteristics of fruit bats, their influence on the environment and what they like to eat. There is also a one page glossary.
A useful book for schools to use in nature study and for parents to help children understand and explore the world around them.
David Gullan is a primary school teacher, whose love of Australian wildlife has found expression in writing picture books including Life in a Hollow and Last Bat of the Night. 
