butterflies

Summer Birds

| Tasha

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.

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Adios Oscar!

| Tasha

Adios Oscar!: a butterfly fable by Peter Elwell

Oscar is a caterpillar with big plans to turn into a butterfly and head to Mexico.  His caterpillar friends don’t believe that they will ever turn into butterflies, but Edna the bookworm takes him to a library for bugs where he learns about butterflies and caterpillars.  Oscar also learns that they speak Spanish in Mexico, so he sets out to learn the language.  Soon Oscar is ready to build his cocoon and transform.  He has dreams of monarch butterflies but when he emerges he finds that he is a moth instead!  He is expected to fly around lightbulbs and eat socks, not fly to Mexico.  What is a small gray moth supposed to do with his bright sunny Mexico dreams?

This book is a great blend of factual information on butterflies and caterpillars and a story about one’s dreams and reality.  Elwell has married the two divergent subjects into a nicely cohesive book.  His illustrations are a large part of the book’s success, offering a silly, fresh feel.  As a reader, I was pleasantly surprised by the twist of Oscar being a moth and the choice that he faces about expectations for moths and his own dreams. 

Appropriate for ages 3-6, this book is a great addition to a butterfly unit or story time and will offer a discussion opportunity about everyone’s dreams.