Nothing to fear here, kids: ‘Stellaluna’ is the tale of a friendly bat brought to the stage

Bats don’t get much respect — from humans, anyway.

These nocturnal creatures have been demonized for centuries by many cultures. They’ve been branded as vampires who thrive on human blood (in countless B horror movies). They’ve been feared as guardians of the underworld and misclassified as carriers of rabies. And interpreted as bad omens? Yes, with a shudder.

So why would a juvenile bat be the star of a best-selling children’s book? And why would Seattle Children’s Theatre (SCT) think that a play based on that book, Janell Cannon’s “Stellaluna,” would be suitable for very young audiences?

Maybe because SCT productions often focus on animal or human characters who tend to be shunned out of ignorance. (Though in Chinese mythology, bats are considered symbols of good luck.) And also because this collaboration with Speeltheater Holland, which had its American debut at SCT in 1997, is such a charmer.

There is certainly nothing scary about the fruit bat Stellaluna, one of the vivid puppets that bring the tale to life. Actually it is the sweet little bat who is frightened, after being separated in the forest from her doting mother.

She doesn’t know how to fly yet, so can’t hunt for food. To survive, she must join a nest of friendly, chatty baby birds and their welcoming mother. It means eating worms instead of mangos and being taunted for comfortably hanging by her feet from a tree limb (which bats naturally do). These are hard challenges, but Stellaluna tackles them.

Relayed in boisterous, madcap fashion by a gregarious piano player (the multitalented whiz Christian Duhamel) and several others who triple as puppeteers, singers and fellow narrators (Molli Corcoran, Jose Abaoag, Frances Leah King and Michael Feldman), “Stellaluna” didn’t scare the crowd of 3- to 5-year-olds at a weekday matinee in SCT’s cozy Eve Alvord Theatre.

They were, in fact, the perfect target audience for Saskia Janse’s hourlong adaptation of the book and for director Onny Huisink’s eye-catching scenic and puppet designs. The latter include bats with broad wings that fold up and eyes that glow in the dark and a very imposing flying owl who tap dances.

Young children, I’d wager, have fewer preconceptions about bats than their elders, and are less put off by them. Here these creatures (who are mammals, not birds) are demystified in an informative but nondidactic way, with information imparted through humor (the birds are real wiseguys), music and dance, shadow and hand puppets, as well as narration.

Under recently retired artistic director Linda Hartzell’s attentive leadership, SCT shows have aimed to impart factual material, but also lessons about tolerance, trust, friendship and other virtues. “Stellaluna” is no exception: The baby bat learns how to adapt to survive, and her fine-feathered friends learn to respect interspecies differences.

Spoiler alert: If Mama Bat didn’t return in the end, for a happy reunion with Stellaluna, the show would end on a note of tragedy. But there’s certainly enough of that to soak up as one ages. And though some children may feel a bit anxious at the thought of losing their own mother or dad, the show is more often beguilingly upbeat. And it deals with separation anxiety with a gentle hand.