Stellaluna facts for kids
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| Author | Janell Cannon |
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| Illustrator | Janell Cannon |
| Cover artist | Janell Cannon |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's story |
| Publisher | Harcourt, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, The Living Books Company |
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Publication date
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April 3, 1993 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 48 |
Stellaluna is a popular children's book written and illustrated by Janell Cannon. It was first published in 1993. The story is about a young fruit bat named Stellaluna. She gets separated from her mother and ends up in a bird's nest.
Stellaluna is adopted by the bird family and learns to act like a bird. But she eventually finds other bats and reunites with her own mother. She then learns how to behave like a bat. Stellaluna introduces her bird friends to her bat family. Even though they are very different, Stellaluna and the birds decide they can still be good friends.
Janell Cannon wanted to write about bats because many people have wrong ideas about them. Also, not many children's books featured bats. She drew the pictures first, getting ideas from photos of Gambian epauletted fruit bats. The drawings were made using special pencils and paint. People praised these pictures for being very accurate and for making the bats look friendly.
The book Stellaluna teaches us about friendship and accepting others. It shows that even if people are different, they can find things in common. It also explores how it feels to be different from everyone else. One expert said the book shows that children are not just good or bad. Sometimes, different behaviors are just a way for kids to show their unique abilities. Stellaluna's actions, even if the mother bird didn't like them, were just her being a bat.
Stellaluna became a New York Times bestseller. It was also on the National Education Association's list of "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children." The book won several awards, including a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 1996. It has been translated into 30 languages. The story has also been made into a short film, a puppet show, and a musical.
Contents
Creating the Story: Why Janell Cannon Wrote Stellaluna
Author Janell Cannon grew up in the countryside of Minnesota. Her parents taught her and her siblings to love nature. She said she was a "free-range kid," meaning she spent a lot of time outside. This helped her appreciate animals like frogs, snakes, and bats. She felt bad for bats because many cultures don't like them. She said it bothered her that bats were "misunderstood and mistreated by humans, out of fear."
Later, Cannon worked at a library in California. She noticed there were only three children's books about bats. Two of those books were later removed. This made her want to write a positive story about bats.
Finding Common Ground: The Main Idea of the Book
Cannon took a trip to Thailand. She felt like she belonged there, even though she didn't know the Thai language. This feeling made her think, "How can we be so different, yet feel so much the same?" This question led her to write a story about "overlooking differences to find common ground."
When she returned home, she started creating a children's book with this idea. It took her several years to finish. She was inspired by the work of bat scientist Merlin Tuttle. Specifically, she read Tuttle's 1986 National Geographic article, "Gentle Flyers of the African Night." This article was about epauletted fruit bats. Cannon chose Gambian epauletted fruit bats for her characters. She liked their dog-like faces and friendly look.
The Story of Stellaluna: What Happens in the Book
In a faraway forest, a mother fruit bat gives birth to a baby bat named Stellaluna. One night, an owl attacks the bats. Stellaluna is knocked away from her mother and falls into the forest below.
The baby bat soon lands in a sparrow's nest. In the nest are three baby birds named Pip, Flitter, and Flap. The mother bird agrees to let Stellaluna stay. But only if Stellaluna eats bugs, doesn't hang upside down, and sleeps at night like a bird.
Stellaluna Learns to Be a Bat
When the young birds grow, they learn to fly. One evening, Stellaluna and the birds are playing. It gets dark, and the birds fly home without her. They cannot see in the dark. Stellaluna keeps flying until her wings hurt. She stops to rest and hangs by her thumbs.
Soon, another bat comes and asks Stellaluna why she is hanging by her thumbs. As Stellaluna tells her story, her own Mother Bat finds her! Stellaluna finally understands why she is so different from the birds.
Excited to learn how to be a bat, Stellaluna goes back to Pip, Flitter, and Flap. She wants to share her new experiences. They agree to join Stellaluna and the other bats at night. But the birds find they cannot fly well in the dark and almost crash. Stellaluna saves them. The four friends decide that even though they are very different, they are still friends and family.
The Art of Stellaluna: How the Pictures Were Made
Janell Cannon drew all the pictures for Stellaluna herself. She actually painted the illustrations before she wrote the story. The artwork was created using Prismacolor wax-based pencils. She also used airbrushed Liquitex-brand acrylic paint. The pictures were drawn on a type of paper called Bristol board.
In a 1996 book called Children's Literature, writers said that Cannon "put so much character in Stellaluna's face and body that the bat comes alive for the reader." Each full-page picture has a page of text next to it. At the top of each text page, there is a small, black-and-white drawing. This drawing shows Stellaluna's mother searching for her. Once Stellaluna and her mother are together again, these small drawings show Stellaluna.
Kirkus Reviews praised Cannon's illustrations, calling them "exquisite." They said the bats looked "appealingly furry, wide-eyed, fawn-colored." The pictures were also praised for showing bats accurately. One teacher said it was "one of the most beautiful science-based picture books I have come across." For the book's 25th anniversary, its artwork was shown in a gallery in Carlsbad, California.
Other Ways to Enjoy Stellaluna: Adaptations
Stellaluna has been made into different forms for people to enjoy.
Interactive Versions
In 1996, the book was turned into an interactive computer game for PC by Living Books. This version included the book's text and pictures. It also had songs, extra facts about bats, more pictures, and quizzes. This computer version has since been made into an interactive mobile app by Wanderful Interactive Storybooks.
Animated Film
In 2004, a 41-minute animated film based on Stellaluna was released. It was a musical and came out on video. Actress Chiara Zanni was the voice of Stellaluna. Other main voice actors included Kathleen Barr and Scott McNeil. The film was re-released on DVD in 2012. It came with a bonus "Stellaluna Activity Booklet." One reviewer called the movie "sweet." They said it stayed "fairly faithful to the book's premise." They also noted that it encouraged viewers to "treat each other fairly and appreciate one another's differences."
Puppet Shows and Musicals
In 2008, the Tears of Joy Theatre performed a puppet show based on Stellaluna for the first time. The theater company toured with the show. They performed Stellaluna in almost 500 theaters from 2009 to 2012. Author Janell Cannon liked the puppet show so much that she brought it to her hometown. This was to celebrate the book's publishing anniversary. Other puppet shows of Stellaluna have also been created.
In 2005, the Emerald City Theatre Company started a musical called Stellaluna and Other Tales. This musical included characters from other books by Janell Cannon. Besides Stellaluna, it featured characters from Verdi, about a python, and Pinduli, about a hyaena.
Translations of Stellaluna
Stellaluna has been translated into many languages around the world. Here are a few examples:
- Stellaluna, 1994, German (ISBN: 3551515212)
- Stelaluna, 1994, Spanish (ISBN: 8426128491)
- Stellaluna, 1996, French (ISBN: 2227704616)
- Stellaluna, 1996, Italian (ISBN: 8880930443)
- 星月 / Xing yue, 1999, Chinese (ISBN: 9579828172)
- Serenola, 2000, Welsh (ISBN: 1859028659)
Images for kids
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An example of an epauletted fruit bat, a type of bat similar to Stellaluna.
