Customer Reviews

Waiting for wings

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This delightful story explains the life cycle of the butterfly in a clear, enjoyable way that young children will understand. The rich language with many action verbs and the author's clever use of rhyme make this book appealing to young children. The size of the illustrations are consistent with the story grammer as the pictures are largest at the point of climax in the story- when the butterflies are ready to fly. The illustrations are very brilliant in color which will appeal to young children. The end papers and title page are illustrated and a part of the story. The cover opens up to a large flower garden with the title on the right side. Descriptions of butterflies, flowers and how to grow a butterfly garden are included.
This book will help young children gain a better understanding of nature and enhance their early literacy skills at the same time.

Lois Ehlert has authored a spectacular picture book that shows and tells the life cycle of the butterfly, from tiny eggs hidden in leaves to hatching caterpillars and cocoons to hungry butterflies in search of nectar in your flower gardens. Told in a gentle rhyming pattern, her simple text is chock full of information and fun facts that is easily understood by children as young as three. But the real strength of this book are Ms Ehlert's fabulous, vivid and brilliant illustrations that grow ever larger and more colorful with each page turn. With additional information at the end of the book about different kinds of butterflies and their favorite flowers and even growing a butterfly garden of your own, Waiting for Wings is a visual and intellectual feast for inquisitive little minds and their eyes.

I am using this book with students in my teaching practicum and they are absolutely fascinated. The illustrations are wonderful and the story is "simply" beautiful. Easy to understand information about the life-cycle of the butterfly with illustrations that hold interest and stimulate creativity in students. I have also thought of several activities to use with the book in the classroom.

This is not a storybook, but it is a book to be loved. With interesting art in vibrant colors, the book describes the life cycle of the butterfly in poetry and then presents more detailed information on moths and butterflies -- and about which flowers will attract them. The inventive art, on odd-size pages, is outstanding. Some of the art is geometrical, some looks like paper cutouts layered to look three-dimensional. And don't worry about the dust jacket -- if it rips, just pitch it -- the gorgeous art is repeated on the book cover itself.

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert is a brilliant, glorious, joyful celebration of all things "butterfly"

The book is essentially a review of the life cycle of a butterfly. The text is in rhyme and is delightful. The book starts with smaller, more sedate illustrations and expands and blossoms to giant, dazzling, brilliantly colored illustrations as the butterfly develops, escapes its cocoon and takes flight.

The final pages identify the illustrated butterflies and the flowers shown in the text and gives advice to readers on how to start a "butterfly garden".

The information provided is accurate and informative for the pre-school/young elementary reader. The illustrations are among the best I've ever seen in a nature book, using bright, warm colors and a wide variety of artistic styles that maintain interest and dazzle the eye. The text is rhythmic and entertaining.

This book is pure joy from begining to end. You'll enjoy it as much as your kids will!

This is a beautiful and very clever book. Pages are cocooned within larger pages, with individual illustrations blending seamlessly into the background illustrations. Like the natural world itself, this book rewards the patient observer, with rich details on the surface and others folded in more subtly. Your kids will be focused in on a little book within the big book, as the caterpillar goes on its journey. It makes the launch to the story within the bigger background pages all the more dynamic, striking as the shift from Kansas to Oz.

It starts with the eggs "hidden from view,/ clinging to leaves with butterfly glue." As we turn the pages of a little book enshrouded in the bigger book, we see the caterpillars hatch, "each one knows what it must do," and we follow the path to metamorphosis. Ultimately, the reader will be rewarded with multiple beautiful butterflies launching up towards the sky, a nice Lepidopterian metaphor for the developmental adventures in store for our little ones. It's a good job of story-telling when we know exactly where the story is going but still find ourselves awestruck.

Finally, as if Ms. Ehlert hadn't done enough, we get several pages at the end on butterfly identification, with information on colors, wingspans shown in actual size, the corresponding caterpillars that precede the butterflies, and the like. We get flower information, and then tips on growing your own butterfly garden. Nice stuff.

Get this book, drill it for a few night-night times, and then take your toddlers to a butterfly pavilion to see the real deal. Good times.

This book will draw in the entire family, with its exciting splashy colours and poetic language, its easy, unforced gentle rhymes and true-to-life attention to detail. There's even a section at the back listing butterfly facts and instructions for growing a butterfly garden so your kids, too, can spend time "waiting for wings"!

My kids, at 6 and 7, are technically too old for this book...but even they got caught up in its delights. Highly recommended as a read-aloud for any age from 3 to 6, and beyond...

I've recently become a big fan of Lois Ehlert. Waiting for Wings is a particularly lovely book -- and very cleverly constructed. The illustrations are just saturated with rich, vibrant color -- perfect for a book about flowers and butterflies! At the end of the book Ehlert takes care to identify all of the butterflies and flowers in the book. And she tells how to plant your own butterfly garden.

My 3 year old daughter loves this book! Beautiful drawings of flowers and butterflies. The drawback was that for a couple months after getting this book, we had to read it every night, and we had to name every butterfly on every page. "What kind of butterfly is this?" "That's a Monarch butterfly." "What kind of butterfly is this?" "That's a Tiger swallowtail butterfly." I'm sure that's good in the long run, but holy cow, she was obsessed with this book! :) Thankfully, the obsession dwindled a bit, and now we can enjoy our occasional readings of the book together. I do recommend this book!

Color-drenched collages in vivid tones accompanied by a melodic text depict the life cycle of a butterfly. The butterflies seem to jump out of the pages and so do the flowers-it seems they no longer need to wait for wings. Lois also provides a flower and butterfly identification guide and instructions on how to start your own butterfly garden. I'm a middle school teacher, and find this book great as a read aloud (perhaps for younger kids) and resource for a unit on life cycles and butterflies.