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  • Hello, my name is Pamela Reed.

  • Welcome to Storyline Online, brought to you by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation.

  • Today we're going to read the book "Stellaluna," by Janell Cannon.

  • In a warm and sultry forest, far, far away,

  • ...there once lived a mother fruit bat and her new baby.

  • Oh, how Mother Bat loved her soft, tiny baby.

  • "I'll name you... Stellaluna," she crooned.

  • Each night, Mother Bat would carry Stellaluna clutched to her breast...

  • ...as she flew out to search for food.

  • One night, as Mother Bat followed the heavy scent of ripe fruit, an owl spied her.

  • On silent wings, the powerful bird swooped down upon the bats.

  • Dodging and shrieking, Mother Bat tried to escape,

  • but the owl struck again and again, knocking Stellaluna into the air.

  • Her baby wings were as limp and useless as wet paper.

  • Down, down she went, faster and faster; into the forest below.

  • The dark leafy tangle of branches caught Stellaluna as she fell.

  • One twig was small enough for Stellaluna's tiny feet.

  • Wrapping her wings about her, she clutched the thin branch, trembling with cold and fear:

  • "Mother;" Stellaluna squeaked. "Where are you?"

  • By daybreak, the baby bat could hold on no longer.

  • Down, down again she dropped.

  • Flump! Stellaluna landed headfirst in a soft downy nest,

  • startling the three baby birds who lived there.

  • Stellaluna quickly clambered from the nest, and hung out of sight below it.

  • She listened to the babble of the three birds.

  • "What was that?" cried Flap.

  • "I don't know, but it's hanging by it's feet," chirped Flitter.

  • "Shhh! Here comes Mama," hissed Pip.

  • Many, many times that day Mama bird flew away,

  • always returning with food for her babies.

  • Stellaluna was terribly hungry - but not for the crawly things Mama Bird brought.

  • Finally, though, the little bat could bear it no longer.

  • She climbed into the nest, closed her eyes, and opened her mouth.

  • Plop! In dropped a big green grasshopper.

  • Stellaluna learned to be like the birds. She stayed awake all day and slept at night.

  • She ate bugs, even though they tasted awful.

  • Her bat ways were quickly disappearing.

  • Except for one thing: Stellaluna still liked to sleep hanging by her feet.

  • Once, when Mama was away, the curious baby birds decided to try it, too.

  • When Mama Bird came home, she saw eight tiny feet gripping the edge of the nest.

  • "Eeek!" she cried. "Get back up here this instant!

  • You're going to fall and break your necks!"

  • The birds clambered back into the nest, but Mama Bird stopped Stellaluna.

  • "You are teaching my children to do bad things."

  • "I will not let you back into this nest, unless you promise to obey all the rules of this house."

  • Stellaluna promised. She ate bugs without making faces.

  • She slept in the nest at night. And she didn't hang by her feet.

  • Stellaluna behaved as a good bird should.

  • All the babies grew quickly. Soon the nest became crowded.

  • Mama Bird told them it was time to learn to fly.

  • One by one, Pip, Flitter, Flap, and Stellaluna jumped from the nest.

  • Their wings worked! "I'm just like them," thought Stellaluna. "I can fly, too."

  • Pip, Flitter, and Flap landed gracefully on a branch.

  • Stellaluna tried to do the same.

  • How Embarrassing!

  • I will fly all day, Stellaluna told herself. Then no one will see how clumsy I am.

  • The next day, Pip, Flitter, Flap, and Stellaluna went flying far from home.

  • They flew for hours, exercising their new wings.

  • "The sun is setting," warned Flitter: "We had better go home, or we will get lost in the dark," said Flap.

  • But Stellaluna had flown far ahead, and was nowhere to be seen. The three anxious birds went home without her.

  • All alone, Stellaluna flew and flew until her wings ached and she dropped into a tree.

  • "I promised not to hang by my feet," Stellaluna sighed.

  • So she hung by her thumbs, and soon fell asleep.

  • She didn't hear the soft sound of wings coming near.

  • "Hey!" a loud voice said. "Why are you hanging upside down?"

  • Stellaluna's eyes opened wide. She saw a most peculiar face.

  • "I'm not upside down, you are!" Stellaluna said.

  • "Ah, but you're a bat. Bats hang by their feet. "

  • "You are hanging by your thumbs, so that makes you upside down!" the creature said.

  • "I'm a bat. I am hanging by my feet. That makes me right side up!"

  • Stellaluna was confused. "Mama Bird told me I was upside down. She said I was wrong..."

  • "Wrong for a bird, maybe...but not for a bat."

  • More bats gathered around to see the strange young bat who behaved like a bird.

  • Stellaluna told them her story.

  • "You ate b-bugs?" Stuttered one.

  • "You slept at night?" gasped another.

  • "How very strange," they all murmured.

  • "Wait, wait! Let me look at this child!" A bat pushed through the crowd.

  • "An owl attacked you?" she asked.

  • Sniffing Stellaluna's fur, she whispered, "You are Stellaluna. You are my baby."

  • "You escaped the owl?" cried Stellaluna. "You survived?"

  • "Yes," said Mother Bat as she wrapped her wings around Stellaluna.

  • "Come with me, and I'll show you where to find the most delicious fruit."

  • "You'll never have to eat another bug as long as you live."

  • "But it's nighttime," Stellaluna squeaked. "We can't fly in the dark or we will crash into trees."

  • "We're bats," said Mother Bat. "We can see in darkness. Come with us."

  • Stellaluna was afraid, but she let go of the tree and dropped into the deep blue sky.

  • Stellaluna could see. She felt as though rays of light shone from her eyes.

  • She was able to see everything in her path.

  • Soon the bats found a mango tree, and Stellaluna ate as much of the fruit as she could hold.

  • "I'll never eat another bug as long as I live," cheered Stellaluna as she stuffed herself full. "I must tell Pip, Flitter, and Flap!"

  • The next day Stellaluna went to visit the birds. "Come with me and meet my bat family," said Stellaluna.

  • "Okay, let's go," agreed Pip.

  • "They hang by their feet and they fly at night and they eat the best food in the world," Stellaluna explained to the birds on the way.

  • As the birds flew among the bats, Flap said, "I feel upside down here."

  • So the birds hung by their feet.

  • "Wait until dark," Stellaluna said excitedly. "We will fly at night."

  • When night came, Stellaluna flew away. Pip, Flitter, and Flap leapt from the tree to follow her.

  • "I can't see a thing!" yelled Pip.

  • "Neither can I," howled Flitter.

  • "Aaeee!" shrieked Flap.

  • "They're going to crash," gasped Stellaluna. "I must rescue them!"

  • Stellaluna swooped about, grabbing her friends in the air. She lifted them to a tree, and the birds grasped a branch. Stellaluna hung from the limb above them.

  • "We're Safe," said Stellaluna. Then she sighed.

  • "I wish you could see in the dark too."

  • "We wish you could land on your feet," Flitter replied. Pip and Flap nodded.

  • They perched in silence for a long time.

  • "How can we be so different and feel so much alike?" mused Flitter.

  • "And how can we feel so different and be so much alike?" wondered Pip.

  • "I think this is quite a mystery." Flap chirped.

  • "I agree," said Stellaluna. "But we're friends."

  • "And that's a fact."

  • I really like this book, and I hope you do too.

  • And I hope you enjoy all the things that you have with your friends that are the same...

  • ...and especially all the things that are different.

  • Happy reading!

Hello, my name is Pamela Reed.

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Stellaluna由Pamela Reed朗讀 (Stellaluna read by Pamela Reed)

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    Anna 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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