SLOW AS A SNAIL, QUICK AS A BIRD

by Miriam Young ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 26, 1970

Caterpillars turn into butterflies. I've known that for years."" "". . . but do you really know?"" weed-picker Mrs. Tanner challenges petulant nothing-to-do Janie. So Janie takes the milkweed stalk home and, coping with her own questions, becomes engrossed in caterpillars Harry and Irma (Mrs. T. names each batch alphabetically) as each sheds its skin and turns into a chrysalis, to emerge two weeks or so later as a monarch butterfly. A process Mrs. Tanner has warned her will sometimes seem ""slow as a snail""--and proceeds with more dispatch and as much informative detail in the crisp full-color picturization by Anne and Harlow Rockwell, Sally's Caterpillar. To say nothing of Millicent Selsam's Terry and the Caterpillars for I Can Readers. There's more to read here, true, but what's not natural science is the forced situation of an old lady transplanting her 'eccentricity': at the last Janie is ""up to her knees in the weeds.

Pub Date: Aug. 26, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1970

Categories: CHILDREN'S