As the sun sets on the time of the dinosaurs, a new world is left in its wake... Dusk He alone can fly and see in the dark, in a colony where being different means being shunned—or worse. As the leader's son, he is protected, but does his future lie among his kin? Carnassial He has the true instincts of a predator, and he is determined that his kind will not only survive but will dominate the world of beasts.

Shade is a young Silverwing bat, the runt of his colony. But he's determined to prove himself on the long, dangerous winter migration to Hibernaculum, millions of wingbeats to the south. During a fierce storm, he loses the others and soon faces the most incredible journey of his young life. Desperately searching for a way to rejoin his flock, Shade meets a remarkable cast of characters: Marina, a Brightwing bat with a strange metal band on her leg; Zephyr, a mystical albino bat with a strange gift; and Goth, a gigantic carnivorous vampire bat. But which ones are friends and which ones are enemies? In this epic story of adventure and suspense, Shade is going to need all the help he can find—if he hopes to ever see his family again. One of Canada's best books for young readers was written by a pretty young writer himself. Kenneth Oppel, who had his first book published when he was 18, really hit his stride a dozen years later with Silverwing, the first volume in a thrilling adventure trilogy set in the nocturnal world of bats that immediately captured the attention of middle readers and award juries alike.

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

When an earthquake hits and Griffin falls into the center of the Underworld, Griffin’s father, Shade, must go after the newborn Silverwing bat to rescue him from the evil forces that reside in the Underworld’s dark depths. Reader's Guide available. Reprint.

From his quest to prove himself to his Silverwing bat colony to his journey into the Underworld to save his son, Shade's life has been a series of thrilling and dangerous adventures. Now Shade's many fans can follow his journeys once again in this handsome boxed set. Books in this set include: "Silverwing Sunwing Firewing"