During a storm, Shade is swept out over the ocean -- away from his family, his friends, and the only life he has ever known.

Shade is a young Silverwing bat, the runt of his colony...

... determined to prove himself on the long and dangerous winter migration to Hibernaculum, millions of wingbeats to the south. During a storm, Shade is swept out over the ocean -- away from his family, his friends, and the only life he has ever known. Alone and frightened as winter fast approaches and temperatures plunge, Shade sets out on a remarkable journey to rejoin his colony to the south.

Awards

• Mr Christie's Book Award for 12 and Up
• Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children
• Silver Birch Award, Ontario Library Association
• Blue Heron Award
• CNIB Talking Book Award
• Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award
• Red Cedar Book Award (B.C.)
• Hackmatack Atlantic Readers' Choice Award
• Maud Hart Lovelace Readers' Choice Award (Minnesota)
• SNCF Prix 2002 du livre de Jeunesse (Roman enfants category)
• Banco del Libro Award (IBBY South America)

Shortlisted for:
• Ruth Schwartz Award
• Pennsylvania Readers' Choice Award
• Rebecaa Caudill Readers' Choice Award (Illinois)
• Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (Maryland)

Now available in a handsome new 10th anniversary hardcover edition with 24 interior illustrations by artist David Frankland, and a foreward by Kenneth Oppel.

BUY IN CANADA | BUY IN USA | BUY IN UK

Watch the trailer

Read an Excerpt

Reading Study Guides

View graphic Novel

Learn More About Bats

Visit the amazing website of Bat Conservation International and see pictures of some of the 1000 species of bats, and learn all sorts of incredible bat facts.

Bat Conservational International

Reviews

“There are fantasy sequences capable of captivating both children and adults, and one of the newest is by Kenneth Oppel. Oppel’s achievement in this book is to have created much more than an action adventure involving bats. In anthropomorphising them, he explores their collective dreams and aspirations, as well as their individual characters. This first powerful novel successfully creates a new fantasy-world, and a convincing simulation of bat life.”

– Michael Thorn, Literary Review (UK)

"Do not miss this rip-roaring adventure by a talented young writer."

– VOYA, A 1997 Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Book

"The plot of this books sounds like the perfect adventure for a noble hero: a dangerous journey with a cryptic map and a trusty companion. But here's the catch: the hero is an undersized bat.... The greatest strength of this story lies in its fast-paced, cliff-hanging action and its setting within the hollow trees and bell towers of the bats' monochromatic nighttime world. Recommend this one; they won't be disappointed."

– School Library Journal

"A Jonathan Livingstone Seagull of the bat community... this epic journey is gripping, and details of bat life are inventively and convincingly imagined."

– Publisher's Weekly

"Oppel's bats are fully developed characters who will certainly earn readers' sympathy and respect... an intriguing microcosm of rival species, factions, and religions."

– The Horn Book

"Replete with appealing characters, scary adversaries, bat lore, natural history, unanswered questions, and conflicting theologies, the story takes on a promising epic sweep; readers will look forward to the sequels that Oppel's ending guarantees."

– Kirkus Review

"Readers with a penchant for losing themselves in fantasy worlds will revel in Kenneth Oppel's Silverwing.... This is a richly imagined work that begs for a sequel."

- The Globe & Mail (Toronto) A 1997 Best Book for Young Adults

"A tour-de-force fantasy starring a chiropteran hero trying to make his way back to his home colony. A can't-put-it-down adventure for readers around age 8 all the way to adult."

– Smithsonian Magazine

"A tour-de-force fantasy starring a chiropteran hero trying to make his way back to his home colony. A can't-put-it-down adventure for readers around age 8 all the way to adult."

- Smithsonian Magazine A 1997 Notable Book