In this somewhat treacly memoir, a girl saves a caterpillar, "a small black creature/ like a tiny worm,/ ...from a greedy jay/ who wanted it/ for lunch." Her grandpa explains that she has found a larva that will become a butterfly, and the two make a shoebox home for it, decorated with cut-paper flowers and topped with a sky-blue lid and a "curve of rainbow/ like a hug/ to keep her safe." When the caterpillar transforms into a painted lady, the girl lets it go. Many years later, when the granddaughter has reached her grandfather's age, butterflies continue to flock to her garden. Bunting precisely documents the raising of the butterfly, but, unlike her other intergenerational tale, I Have an Olive Tree (reviewed above), this story conveys little of the relationship between the girl and her grandfather. Much of the connection between the girl and her rescued pet comes through at the end, thanks to Shed's (also teamed with Bunting for Dandelions) close-up paintings in a smudgy pastel palette that connects past and present with an air of timelessness. A step-by-step guide to raising a butterfly closes the book. Ages 5-8. (May)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Kindergarten-Grade 3-After saving a caterpillar from a hungry bird, a young girl consults her grandfather and together they build a butterfly house. Considering the barren box, the child determines to bring outdoor beauty indoors, so the pair create a colorful "garden" of painted flowers to line the sides and a blue sky on the inner lid. Ultimately, the larva forms a chrysalis, undergoes the marvelous metamorphosis into a Painted Lady butterfly, and is set free by the tearful girl. The simply worded tale is narrated by the child grown old, who exults in a plethora of Painted Ladies in her butterfly garden, sure that they are the descendants of that long-ago butterfly who passed on memories of loving consideration. Shed's soft-edged gouaches in Painted Lady tones celebrate this joyous story in perfect rhythm and the whole will produce sighs of satisfaction from readers and listeners alike. It may also give rise to pleas for boxes and jars, papers and paints to raise butterflies. Teamed with such ideal nonfiction complements as Deborah Heiligman's From Caterpillar to Butterfly (HarperCollins, 1996) and Joanne Ryder's Where Butterflies Grow (Lodestar, 1989), plus a teacher-peek at E. Jaediker Norsgaard's How to Raise Butterflies (Dodd, Mead, 1988; o.p.), the book provides the nucleus for a fine whole-language science unit for the youngest set.
Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
In lyrical, sometimes rhyming language, Bunting describes how a young girl and her grandfather rescue a caterpillar from a hungry jay and place it in a butterfly house (really a cardboard box), where they can feed and care for it. Eventually, it forms a chrysalis, emerges as a painted lady butterfly, and is released into the wild. After the girl grows up, she finds that butterflies seem attracted to her yard, perhaps because of her earlier kind deed. Shed's gouache-on-canvas paintings evoke feelings of warmth and nostalgia suited to the quiet story. Earth tones predominate, especially the browns and oranges found in this species. Appended with directions for raising a butterfly, this makes a great choice for primary science classes, families with young nature buffs, and Earth Day celebrations. Kay Weisman
Review
This large-format, elegantly illustrated (guache paintings on canvas) picture book is as lavish a how-to book as any child is likely to see. It begins when a little girl finds "a small black creature like a tiny worm" and rescues it from a greedy bluejay. She takes the caterpillar home on the wide green leaf where she discovered it, and the child and her grandfather feed and shelter the larva (in a jar inside of a shoe box) until it becomes a butterfly. Step-by-step instructions are given so that any child listener lucky enough to find a caterpillar can duplicate this feat of Nature's magic at home. Adult readers should be prepared to lend a hand. (Selma G. Lanes, Parents' Choice, 1998) --
From Parents' Choice®
From the Inside Flap
WHEN THE LITTLE GIRL saves a tiny caterpillar from a hungry jay, her grandfather helps her make a butterfly house to keep it safe.
They decorate it with colorful flowers and leaves, and the girl watches over the larva as it transforms from caterpillar, to chrysalis, to butterfly. All too soon, it is time to set it free. But even as the years pass, and the young girl grows old, something amazing happens each spring. Butterflies come to her garden -- filling the air like autumn leaves! Could they be coming back to return the kindness that the little girl had shown so long ago?
Eve Bunting's lyrical language and Greg Shed's sun-kissed paintings make for a brilliant celebration of nature, spring, and the cycle of life.
About the Author
Eve Bunting was born in 1928 in Ireland where she was raised, and she graduated from Methodist College. She has written more than two hundred books, ranging from picture books to young adult novels. Her subject matter spans both fantasy and reality. She has received countless awards for her writing, and never ceases to produce new books. Eve says that as long as the world is full of such wonderful ideas, she will continue writing. In addition, she says that, for her, writing is like breathing--it is necessary. This wonderful writer is also wonderful wife to her husband Ed and a mother of three - one daughter and two sons - Christine, Sloan and Glenn.
