Silverwing

If I were to choose my favorite book from the 2000 Caudill Nominees, my winner would be Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel. It is one of three companion novels. I do not know why they are called companion novels because there is an obvious order to them and the main character stays the same, but grows older and wiser. I would call them a trilogy and I've heard them called the Silverwing Saga.

I recommend this series and this author on a monthly if not weekly basis. Primarily, I suggest it to boys who love to read and have run out of their favorite series. Fans of Brian Jacques might very well fall in love with these bats. Girls who are well-read and looking for something new ought to try them unless they have an aversion to these flying rodents, and even then, it might help them grow to appreciate this unique mammal.

Silverwing is the story of a newborn, silverwing bat named Shade who is the runt of the litter. His family and friends leave to migrate to their winter colony. Shade gets lost in the shuffle. Shade is determined to rejoin them at all costs, even navigating uncharted and dangerous territory. Along the way, he meets up with some new friends including a brightwing bat called Marina who has been abandoned by her colony. She and Shade have something in common. They both have been tagged by humans. In Shade's colony of silverwings, there are many bats who have been tagged. In Marina's colony of brightwings, it is a sign of certain death.

Silverwing is an adventure story as well as a mystery. Part of the mystery is why do the humans tag the bats and for what purpose. In Marina's experience, tagged bats disappear or fall ill. It is different for Shade, he has been told and he believes that the tags are a part of a Promise to be fulfilled. The bats were banished from the daylight, but hope one day to return to the sun. In searching for this Promise, or any sort of an answer, the bats must face encroaching humans, arrogant owls, and cannibal bats with imposing wingspans.

I got lost in the beauty of Oppel's writing. I would call him a young author to watch. He writes of a world that is seen through echo vision and in black and white. The bats become almost human. The reader cheers for them and fears with them. I find it amazing that I can get wrapped up in a bat's first flight; a bat's first hunt; a bat's first triumph in catching his dinner, an elusive and fast moth.


Sunwing is the second book and Shade and Marina are still friends. Shade's father, Cassiel has disappeared. Searching for his father, Shade discovers an enclosed forest run by humans. It appears to be a paradise for bats, free from owls and cannibal bats. There is plenty of food and sunshine even. He wonders if it is part of the Promise, except that he discovers the bats are being drugged and then removed while they sleep.

Shade and his friends wind up in Latin America where the leader of the cannibal bats seeks to bring darkness to the world. Just think ancient Aztec or Mayan myth and legend. Shade and his friends must bring their enemies the owls along with some rats together to fight against the vampire bats and their plans to rule the night.

The last book in the trilogy is Firewing. Shade is full-grown and has a newborn child himself - Griffin. Male bats leave the nest before the newborns arrive so when the book opens, he has never met his son. Although they have never met, Griffin knows all about his brave and heroic father. The older bats tell the newborns stories. However, Griffin is not really like his father. He is cautious and nervous. But he wants to prove his worth. He wants to prove that he is his father's son.

Griffin will do just that and follow in his father's footsteps. There is an earthquake of sorts and Griffin is sucked down into a fissure. Shade determines he must follow to rescue his son. They both think that they are in a battle against nature and time. It is believed that once one falls into the Land of the Dead, one has little time to escape before death comes. But there are greater problems awaiting in the dark - a former, deadly foe.

Now you get four for the price of three. Oppel wrote a fourth bat book called Darkwing. It does not necessarily belong with the trilogy, but I like to think of it as a prequel. Not in the sense that Shade's parents or grandparents are the main characters. No, the setting is at the end of the dinosaur age when the mammals begin to thrive - 65 million years ago. Darkwing is about prehistoric chiropters and the world's first bat, Dusk. Chiropters couldn't fly; they could only glide from tree to tree and then climb back up when they reached the bottom. Dusk, who is built differently from the other chiropters, goes the extra distance and takes to the air.

This book is twice as long as any in the Silverwing Saga, but it was every bit as enjoyable all things evolution aside. It was a nice surprise from the author. I daresay it was my favorite though it seems to have escaped the attention of the awards' committees. It did receive starred reviews though.