BATS BENEATH THE BRIDGE

Texans learn to love the bats that roost under the Congress Avenue Bridge.

When a bridge in Austin was renovated in the 1980s, the crevices beneath it became the perfect home for Mexican free-tailed bats, which moved in by the hundreds of thousands. Their human neighbors didn’t welcome them—until a bat biologist, Dr. Merlin Tuttle, explained how beneficial the bats were to the environment; they ate insect pests, which meant farmers didn’t have to rely so heavily on pesticides. Now locals and tourists alike come to watch the bats fly out from their daytime roosts under the bridge each evening. Nolan smoothly tells this story for a young audience, weaving in information about bat behaviors such as echolocation. Her straightforward narrative is set on colorful full-bleed spreads of mixed-media illustrations. The enthusiastic bat watchers pictured are a diverse group, and the bats are engaging; many have kittenlike faces. The text seems long for a read-aloud, but the pictures will show well, and the subject will be of interest to the intended audience, who may not have encountered bats in their own lives but will probably have formed some opinions about them. The backmatter adds some bat facts, but for readers who want more, Gail Gibbons’ updated Bats (2019) will fit the bill.

Appropriately celebrates an urban natural wonder.