Starred Review Hope is a yellow butterfly in this wordless picture book from Ukraine. The arresting story begins with the image of a girl staring at the reader through a barbed wire fence. Part of the fence then turns into a giant menacing spider. Frightened, the girl runs, trips and falls. When she opens her eyes, she sees a brilliant yellow butterfly, the only color thus far in a bleak, black-and-white world. Intrigued, the girl follows the butterfly's flight through a war-torn landscape. The mood darkens as she comes across a giant bomb, its nose buried in the ground. She angrily pounds on it with her fists until a cluster of yellow wings lifts it away, unleashing a veritable explosion of butterflies that wraps itself around the girl, forming giant wings. A light-filled blue sky then begins to emerge from the darkness as, ultimately, the story returns to the barbed wire fence, which the butterflies dismantle. Before reading this book, adults may want to consult its appended notes on sharing wordless stories and discussing the topic of war with children. Even if young readers don't fully grasp the events playing out on the page, they will connect with the emotion coursing through its apposite Expressionist illustrations. This moving story is both timely and timeless, evoking war and its aftermath without losing sight of hope.

Responding to the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian artist Shatokhin's wordless narrative offers a child's-eye view of military conflict.The story opens in black and white with a close-up that may be hard to identify at first: a single barbed-wire knot. Things clear up as the view pans to an outline of a child behind the fence, two knots hiding their eyes. The fence transforms into a menacing spider, and the child runs, trips, and falls. When they peer through their fingers, a single yellow butterfly has appeared. There is much for readers to interpret through conversations and multiple readings in these artfully designed pages, some with insets that focus attention, others with objects on facing pages that invite comparison, e.g., a missile and a tree jutting from the ground at similar angles. Several yellow butterflies flit above a bombed-out hole, and the child envisions a playground (past or future?) with happy friends; these images are formed with a minimum of lines against the white background. Shatokhin employs color, scale, perspective, and pattern to great effect in timely-and timeless-scenes that capture the protagonist's fear, fury, frustration, and, ultimately, hope. Exquisite compositions depict a yellow swarm of butterflies becoming the child's wings, lifting them to see a blue sky amid the destruction (yellow and blue being the colors of the Ukrainian flag). Useful backmatter includes information on sharing wordless books and discussing war with children. The child and other people portrayed are the white of the page. (This book was reviewed digitally.)Provocative, powerful, breathtakingly beautiful. (Picture book. 5-12)

Responding to the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian artist Shatokhin's wordless narrative offers a child's-eye view of military conflict.The story opens in black and white with a close-up that may be hard to identify at first: a single barbed-wire knot. Things clear up as the view pans to an outline of a child behind the fence, two knots hiding their eyes. The fence transforms into a menacing spider, and the child runs, trips, and falls. When they peer through their fingers, a single yellow butterfly has appeared. There is much for readers to interpret through conversations and multiple readings in these artfully designed pages, some with insets that focus attention, others with objects on facing pages that invite comparison, e.g., a missile and a tree jutting from the ground at similar angles. Several yellow butterflies flit above a bombed-out hole, and the child envisions a playground (past or future?) with happy friends; these images are formed with a minimum of lines against the white background. Shatokhin employs color, scale, perspective, and pattern to great effect in timely-and timeless-scenes that capture the protagonist's fear, fury, frustration, and, ultimately, hope. Exquisite compositions depict a yellow swarm of butterflies becoming the child's wings, lifting them to see a blue sky amid the destruction (yellow and blue being the colors of the Ukrainian flag). Useful backmatter includes information on sharing wordless books and discussing war with children. The child and other people portrayed are the white of the page. (This book was reviewed digitally.)Provocative, powerful, breathtakingly beautiful. (Picture book. 5-12)