School Library Journal Starred Review

K-Gr 3 A companion to the equally stylish An Egg Is Quiet (Chronicle, 2006), this lovely combination of elegant watercolors and lyrical text is both eye-catching and informative. Readers follow the creatures from egg to flight as Aston takes them through the process of metamorphosis while describing various behavioral traits. With wing scales "stacked like shingles on a roof," the butterflies come to life. While noting differences between moths and butterflies, the author makes no mention of the former's "fluffier" antennae, and there is no definition for the term "instar" (which appears in an illustration caption). The Monarch migration gets a star turn, along with a veritable litany of names—Diana Fritillary, Ruddy Daggerwing, Painted Jezebel, and Elbowed Pierrot—as worthy of recitation as the dinosaur appellations so beloved of children. A lyrical, colorful, and elegant production.— Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY

ALA Booklist

Following closely the presentation of An Egg Is Quiet (2006) and A Seed Is Sleepy (2007), this lovely and engaging book is devoted to the beautiful butterfly and its metamorphosis. Each double-page spread focuses on an attribute: "patient," "helpful," "protective," and so on. The information about each phase is concise and loaded with interesting factual tidbits d each butterfly is carefully labeled, too. From the endpapers, featuring 32 caterpillars (in the front) and 34 butterflies (in the back), to the detailed page-by-page depictions, the realistic acrylic illustrations are consistently elegant.

Horn Book

A statement, in curlicue type, stating what "a butterfly is" introduces each spread in this poetic picture book. The text that follows explains why a butterfly is "creative" (it engineers its metamorphosis), "helpful" (it pollinates plants), or "protective" (it guards itself with its wings). Nicely detailed, well-labeled illustrations--less anthropomorphized than the text--never forget to highlight butterflies' beauty.

Kirkus Reviews

Another interwoven flight of poetry, natural history and lovely art from the creators of An Egg Is Quiet (2006) and A Seed Is Sleepy (2007). Beneath hand-scripted headers that sometimes take license with facts but create lyrical overtones ("A butterfly is creative"), Aston offers specific and accurate descriptions of metamorphosis, pollination, camouflage, migration and other butterfly features and functions, along with the differences between butterflies and moths. Imagination-stretching comparisons—"monarchs weigh only as much as a few rose petals," the wingspan of the Arian Small Blue is "about the length of a grain of rice"—lend wings to the body of facts, and though the author avoids direct mention of reproduction or death, a quick closing recapitulation that harks back to the opening page's hatching egg provides an artful hint of life's cyclical pattern. With finely crafted, carefully detailed close-up watercolors, Long depicts dozens of caterpillars and butterflies, each one posed to best advantage, unobtrusively labeled and so lifelike that it's almost a surprise to page back and find them in the same positions. Similar butterfly albums abound, but none show these most decorative members of the insect clan to better advantage. (Informational picture book. 8-10)