Summer Birds: the Butterflies of Maria Merian by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Julie Paschkis

Maria, a young girl living in Germany during the Middle Ages, disproves the ancient belief that butterflies, frogs and other small creatures spontaneously generate from mud.  Maria instead observes their transformations as they change from egg to caterpillar and finally to moth or butterfly.  She must study them in secret because others would accuse her of witchcraft for dealing with these insects that they believe are evil.  She paints what she sees, documenting the changes and her observations of their lives.  Readers will enjoy this marriage of science and art in a picture book format.

Maria can serve as an inspiration for us all.  She took a long-standing theory and through her own powers of observation and judgment disproved it.  Following her own interests of science and art, Maria was an explorer, a scientist and a discoverer.  The author’s note at the end of the book tells readers more of Maria’s story, including what she went on to do as an adult.  Charmingly, the picture book remains simple and straight forward, never getting bogged down in the mud.

Paschkis’ art has a folk-art feel that ties it naturally to the time period of the story.  Her use of strong, simple lines echoes the simple strength of the writing as well.  As a reader, I had expected to see more of Engle’s poetry in evidence here in her first picture book.  It was a pleasure to see that she excels at simple storytelling just as much as she does at imagery and poetry.

A powerful combination of art and science, just like Maria, this book is appropriate for ages 5-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt.

Also on:

• Books Together – author interview
• Pink Me