The creator of Truck Full of Ducks (2018) offers another humorous picture book, this one addressing impatience. A googly-eyed, red-spotted green caterpillar is lounging with his friends when he learns of metamorphosis. Shocked and unprepared, he hurries frantically to catch up with the details of a process that his friends seem to understand intuitively. After a few missteps, he does manage to spin his own chrysalis, but even then his anxious questions continue, particularly when he learns that the pupae stage lasts two full weeks. Eventually he emerges as a butterfly, just in time to learn about migration. Burach's mixed-media digital artwork makes good use of the cartoon style to depict vibrantly colored caterpillars and the protagonist's overwrought emotions. Particularly humorous are the spot drawings showing the inside of the chrysalis, in which he rails against the measured pace of nature. The story is revealed entirely in speech balloons, color coded to distinguish speakers. This makes a good choice for science edutainment fans, especially devotees of Elise Gravel's Disgusting Critters series.

What are you guys doing?

Not every caterpillar gets the memo—or is, for that matter, temperamentally suited to spending two weeks immobilized in a chrysalis.Seeing everyone headed up a tree ("We're going to metamorphosize." "Meta-WHAT-now?") a clueless caterpillar hurries to follow. Despite the promise of a dazzling transformation, every step in the natural process, from spinning a chrysalis on, is an occasion for histrionic dismay ("It's STILL Day 1?" "This is taking FOR-EV-ER!"). Gradually, though, the pop-eyed pupa's kvetching quiets, the moans and groans turn to meditation ("Be one with the chrysalis"), and two weeks later: "I did it! I'm a BUTTERFLY!" Burach chronicles this miracle of nature in cartoon scenes as loud as the rapid patter, culminating in a migratory flight of butterflies and a final "ARE WE THERE YET?!" that hints at a character transformation that's perhaps less complete than the physical one. It won't be just adults chuckling at the interactions between the title character and its patiently pupating companions; all the characters speak in dialogue balloons, the protagonist's green with purple text to match its chrysalis.An object lesson in the value of patience as well as a droll introduction to meta-what-now. (Picture book. 5-7)