From Amazon
Kenneth Oppel gives a bat's-eye view of the horrors of animal testing in
Sunwing, the sequel to his popular and award-winning novel for middle readers,
Silverwing. Shade, the lost baby bat of the first book, has rejoined his colony only to lose his freedom as the bats plunge into a mysterious human building they believe is paradise. The building's vast interior forest, with its teeming insects and eerie absence of owls, certainly seems like Eden. But Shade and his Brightwing friend Marina, now young adults, discover that the humans have a sinister motive for befriending the bats--they are using them as unwitting suicide bombers over a jungle war zone.
In addition, the bats are threatened once again by Goth, the giant jungle bat with the cannibalistic tastes and irrepressible knack for survival of Hannibal Lecter. This time he has a plan for making his god, Zotz, supreme: to be explicit (and Oppel is), by ripping out the hearts of 100 imprisoned bats, owls, and rats. Shade's and Marina's race to save their companions from this two-pronged threat makes for exciting and occasionally terrifying reading.
Once again Oppel immerses readers in the world view of his tiny flying mammals. It becomes second nature to see things upside down, hide in crevices, squint at the brightness of the sun, and sense danger through sound vibrations. Particularly chilling is his portrayal of the humans' laboratory, with its concentration-camp-like indifference to life. In Sunwing, Oppel offers breathless suspense while eliciting our compassion for these misunderstood creatures of the night. (Ages 9 to 12) --Lisa Alward
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8 In this sequel (S&S, 2000) to Kenneth Oppel's Silverwing (S&S, 1999), Shade, a silverwing bat, and Marina, a brightwing, continue their search for Shade's father. They are drawn to and enter a pseudo forest built by humans and, although the bats there call it "Paradise," Shade soon realizes it is a prison for the animals. He is selected along with other bats, and a disc is sewn on their abdomens. When they are flown to a target and released, Shade just manages to escape the fate of most of the bats - exploding when they hit the target. Shade joins a group of other survivors and learns that his father is possibly still alive but about to be sacrificed along with other bats and animals by a colony of vampire bats led by Shades old nemesis, Goth. Shade enlists the help of rats and owls to stage a dramatic rescue. John McDonough's word-for-word reading of this exciting tale is well-paced, expressive, and clear. Although this story will be better appreciated by listeners familiar with the first book - and fan's of that book will certainly want to hear this one - this sequel stands on its own. -Louise Sherman, formerly Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, N
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.