CATERPILLAR DREAMS

A caterpillar embarks on a great adventure only to find there’s no place like home.

Henri dreams of flying, of life beyond the garden wall. His invertebrate pals discourage this wanderlust, but Toad’s sage advice emboldens him: “Here’s the thing with dreams….If you don’t chase them, they always get away.” So the orange and yellow caterpillar (with the help of some animal friends) journeys out, crossing a fence, road, and lake before becoming a cocoon. When his metamorphosis is complete, Henri the butterfly chooses to fly to the “most amazing, incredible, impossibly possible place of all”: home. Young readers will find McFarland’s tale most agreeable, with just a few sentences per page, adorable characters, and a warm, inviting palette. It harks back to Eric Carle’s The Grouchy Ladybug and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, without the edge of the former and avant-garde minimalism of the latter. However, this gentle, timeworn tale still maintains its charm, with well-designed spreads of digital collage.

A pleasing and amiable tale.