ARLO NEEDS YOUR HELP

In Cino’s picture book, a caterpillar enlists readers’ help in escaping a plastic container and going through the process of metamorphosis.

Arlo, a black-and-yellow-striped caterpillar, has been shut away by children inside a sealed plastic “caterpillar palace” amply stocked with fish crackers, chocolate chips, tomatoes, and other supposed treats. (Sall’s colorful illustrations for this scenario make a clever juxtaposition of the vibrant, colorful garden and the happy disarray of Arlo’s unseen keepers’ discarded crayons and toys.) The absent kids’ love of nature comes with a potentially disastrous lack of knowledge and commitment: Arlo can’t eat any of the food they’ve provided. Remaining upbeat, he encourages readers to set him free (a request that requires turning the book upside down), help him to find milkweed flowers, and count out the 14 days during which he’ll metamorphose into an orange-and-black-winged monarch butterfly. The counting helps contextualize this process, as do the interruptions that occur when readers must scare off potential predators. Cino addresses readers directly, narrating in personable, uncomplicated language, either from Arlo’s perspective or from that of Ava, his happy green aphid friend. Sall’s two-page illustrations are vivid and exquisitely detailed while leaving sufficient space for the text. One tiny quibble: In an otherwise easy-to-read font, the commas look rather like periods.

Beautifully presented and perfectly pitched to foster a sense of wonder about the natural world.