Darkwing (Silverwing #0.5) - Ages 8+

With Dusk comes the dawn of a new era...

It’s 65 million years ago: the last dinosaurs are dying out, and the mammals are beginning to take over the earth. Dusk is a small tree glider -- a chiropter – who discovers that unlike the rest of his colony he can flap his wings rather than just use them to glide downwards. The only member of his colony capable of powered flight, Dusk is shunned, and escapes being driven out only because his father is leader. But after his colony is massacred by a prowl of newly-evolved, cat-like carnivores, Dusk's skills may prove to be the salvation of his colony as they embark on a perilous journey to find a new home. Set during a thrilling and dynamic era of earth's history, Darkwing tells the story of the very first bat.

Kenneth Oppel is the author of numerous books for young readers. His award-winning Silverwing trilogy has sold over a million copies worldwide and was adapted into an animated TV series and stage play. Airborn won the Governor General's Literary Award and also won the Michael L. Printz Honor Book Award. He is the author of Half Brother which won both the Canadian Library Association's Book of the Year for Children Award as well as the CLA Young Adult Book Award – the first time in the awards' history the same title has won both honours, This Dark Endeavor, Such Wicked Intent, The Boundless, and The Nest which won the CLA Book of the Year for Children Award. A two-time nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, he lives in Toronto with his wife and three children. Visit him online at www.kennethoppel.ca