Trick or Treat, Bugs to Eat

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. (Aug.)