Move aside, Very Hungry Caterpillar. Meet the new queen of metamorphosis storytime splendor.
Artistic collaboration yields one-of-a-kind storytelling with this deft look at the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly.
A talented trio of author/illustrator creators and friends explore the three phases of a black swallowtail’s life. Clanton takes on the first stage, introducing us to Papilio polyxenes, a caterpillar full of wide-eyed wonder and boundless hunger. Tabor tackles the challenging chrysalis stage, showing an oblivious Papilio’s adventures as she goes from caterpillar to goo to butterfly. Finally, Musser’s butterfly emerges to find that things aren’t always easy when you’re new, so a little persistence goes a long way. While the art styles shift a bit, generally the illustrations are soft and cartoonish, and the tone of the book is remarkably consistent and chock-full of small delights (such as the caterpillar-stage Papilio merrily singing, “Got a full belly, time to turn to jelly”). Papilio’s mouse friend appears throughout all three stories, providing a consistent throughline as the two creatures help one another. For all its simplicity, the book keeps on the scientifically accurate side of the equation, even including backmatter with fascinating facts (for instance, black swallowtails create their own antifreeze in the winter). The result is charming, informative, and absolutely ideal for preschool read-alouds.
Move aside, Very Hungry Caterpillar. Meet the new queen of metamorphosis storytime splendor. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593693254
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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