“I knew that there was plenty of room on the shelf for a new bat story, but I got distracted by other things in life,” said Cannon, including a momentous visit to Thailand. Perusing the shelves, she discovered only three bat-themed books, two of which were eventually removed because they were so worn, and were never replaced since they had fallen out of print. “I paid attention to what was going on in the kids’ department, because I had always loved picture books-I never outgrew them,” she explained. Here her keen observation skills again paid off.

Her fascination with bats was reignited when Cannon moved to southern California after high school, and landed a job in the graphics department of a library.

“To see any species, like bats, being misunderstood and mistreated by humans, out of fear, really affected me.” “I was fortunate to be a free-range kid, able to gain an appreciation for animals like frogs, salamanders, snakes, and bats,” the author said. Next month, HMH will release a 25th-anniversary edition of the book, featuring updated scientific information a slightly larger format full-bleed, re-scanned art and downloadable activities and crafts.Ĭannon’s “multi-level” inspiration for Stellaluna had its roots in her childhood experiences in rural Minnesota, where her parents shared their extensive knowledge of animals with her and her siblings, and encouraged their children to explore and observe their environment. The book’s themes of tolerance and acceptance spoke clearly to adults and children: the book has been translated into 30 languages and has sold more than two million copies in North America alone. That artwork, paired with the story Cannon wrote to accompany it, became Stellaluna, a picture book that found a home at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1993.

In the early 1990s, Janell Cannon, a graphic artist living near San Diego, spent her down time creating a sequence of paintings of a fruit bat being raised by a family of birds after dropping into their nest.

Janell cannon