Customer Reviews

Butterflies Fly

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Author Yvonne Winer seems to have a knack for choosing wonderful illustrators to bring her poetic observations to life and has certainly continued her winning streak with the choice of Karne Lloyd-Jones for this delightful bit of work.

Butterflies are among the most fascinating, whimsical and beautiful creatures on earth, and this nicely done book stresses all three of these virtues. The author has covered 15 species and has designed and written the book much like previous works and works that have followed since the publication of this one. One page has a nice small picture of a beautiful butterfly followed by a short rhyme:

Butterflies fly
In a dancing white cloud
That covers the fields
In a gossamer shroud.
That's how butter flies fly.

The facing page is completely covered by a magnificent painting by Karen Lloyd-Jones which features the butterfly on the opposing page but includes flowering plants, and the environment these creatures can be found in and numerous numbers of the species together in all kinds of different, yet natural positions. The illustrations are of the quality that one must look close to see if they are actually paintings and not photographs. They are absolutely beautiful. The details of each butterfly are quite often better than I have seen in many butterfly identification books which are used and written for adults.

Butterflies sip
Where tree frogs creep,
In gullies so gloomy,
In shadows so deep.
That's where butterflies fly.

Each time the reader examines these paintings new things are found that were missed at the last readings. This is one of those books that can be read to the child or by the child over and over again and it is like a new experience each time.

The author has concluded the work with two full pages featuring each of the butterflies used in the poems and illustrations and has added their common name, scientific name, location found and a paragraph about that particular species.

This work is for smaller children and unlike The Library Journal (see review above) I do not suggest you simply give a child a field guide or text book to tweak their interest in these amazing insects...wow, does that sound cold. "Here kid...take this text book and get back with me if you have any questions and you can look the Latin phrases up yourself." Hmmm, been there, done that and I most certainly would not do that to a young child of mine or one I was suppose to be teaching

Best to teach your children about butterflies now because if you keep track of such things, you will know that these colorful and useful animals are rather quickly disappearing from the face of the earth and will quite likely not be here that much longer.

Don Blankenship

This is a poetic children's book that includes miraculous images of fifteen different butterfly species found throughout the world. Each page within this book contains an amazingly detailed poetic verse and displays a different beautifully illustrated butterfly. The author and illustrator were able to bring these fragile creatures to life through the brilliant use of words and realistic art. The last two pages contain a butterfly identification guide corresponding with each illustrated butterfly. Within this guide, each of the fifteen butterflies is identified by common name, scientific name, wingspan, a brief explanation of its habitat, and a description of the butterfly's history and life cycle. This book would provide a rich source of information in an elementary science class when studying different butterfly species. When the class is completing a lesson on butterflies and their life cycles, the teacher could take time to incorporate reading and science together by using this book. Also, the class could use some of the illustrations in the book to see how some butterflies use camouflage against predators. The text and art within this book will give each reader a detailed picture of the butterfly in its natural habitat.

My almost 3 year old daughter loves this book! They had it in her nature class and she always grabbed it when we went, so I got it for her. The pictures are vibrant and just beautiful!

We love Yvonne Winer! The illustrators she chooses are wonderful in all of her book. The first review of this book explains it better than I ever could. I agree with her review and cannot say enough about the book. My children LOVE this book. Buy it, you will not be disappointed!