Butterfly Packages ~ Handle with Care

Handle with Care: An Unusual Butterfly Journey

By Loree Griffin Burns; photos by Ellen Harasimowicz

32 pages; ages 5 – 10

Millbrook Press, 2014

“A mysterious package has arrived at the museum. It’s shiny and has traveled a long, long way. It’s sturdy. And it’s inside this silver box….” What could this mysterious package be?

Themes: animal, nature, nonfiction

It’s a pupa! And what’s a pupa, you ask? It’s the teenage stage of a moth or butterfly’s life – where they hang around the house and look like they’re doing nothing, but a lot is going on inside.

This particular pupa started life as an egg on a butterfly farm in Costa Rica.

What’s a butterfly farm? Well, that’s what this book is all about!

What I like love about this book: Aside from the gorgeous photos and excellent writing, I love the endpapers. The front endpapers are chrysalises; the back endpapers are the adult butterflies. Book-ended between them is the story about how farmers in Costa Rica raise butterflies for museums around the world. They make sure caterpillars have plenty of food, and they scout for predators that sneak in. When the caterpillars are ready to pupate, the farmers move them into special screened cabinets. I also like the way Loree Burns explains terminology in easy-to-understand language, and the wealth of information tucked into the back pages. 

Beyond the book: 

Summer is a great time to watch butterflies around your neighborhood. Look for butterfly eggs on and under leaves in your garden. Here’s a guide to some common butterfly eggs.

Follow a caterpillar. How fast does it move? How far does it travel in a minute? And what is it eating? Draw a picture of what it looks like: is it fuzzy? Smooth? Striped or spotted? Does it have horns that shoot out of its head or big eyespots on its butt? If you don’t have a caterpillar guide handy, you can use this online caterpillar identification tool.

Whose chrysalis is that? Chances are you won’t find a chrysalis, because caterpillars climb to a safe and hidden place to pupate. But I’ve found Baltimore Checkerspot chrysalises on onion leaves – when there are plenty of tall weeds to give it cover! Here’s a guide to chrysalises.

Go to Butterfly School. Want to learn more? Then check out Butterfly School. If you have a chance to visit a live butterfly zoo or greenhouse this summer, do it. And ask the curator if any of their butterflies come from Costa Rica. 

Drop by STEM Friday to see what other science books and resources bloggers are sharing.   Today's review is part of PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books.

  On Monday we'll flutter over to join the Nonfiction Monday round-up, where you'll find all kinds of great nonfiction for children and teens. Review copy provided by publisher.

Wordless Wednesday

Woolly Bear Secrets Revealed

The Secret Life of the Woolly Bear Caterpillar

by Laurence Pringle; illus by Joan Paley

32 pages; ages 5 - 7

Boyds Mills Press, 2014

“Bella is no ordinary caterpillar,” writes Laurence Pringle. “She is a banded woolly bear...” So begins this introduction to the secret life of a well-loved caterpillar.

Bella has 16 legs – how do you even walk on 16 legs? Not to worry – Pringle explains how different legs help Bella climb, move, and even help her eat. And eat. And EAT… woolly bears, it turns out, eat a lot. And produce a lot of frass (a cool word for caterpillar poop).

Bella eats all summer long, and then finds a safe place to sleep away the winter. In the spring, wooly bears wake up and start eating. Again.

Perhaps you’ve seen Bella and her buddies wandering about your yard searching for tender grass and tasty dandelion leaves to nibble. If so, take a few moments to watch them. If you have a glass plate or petri dish, put a woolly bear in it and watch how they walk. If you have a sandy area, put a woolly bear down and see what sort of tracks it makes.

Then help it get to a green and grassy place  because soon, very soon, Bella will spin a cocoon and change into an Isabella Tiger Moth. And then, one day later this summer, she’ll lay her eggs that will hatch into baby woolly bears.

Pringle gives us a great view into the every day life of a common caterpillar, and Joan Paley's bright and bold illustrations are perfect for spring. 

Drop by STEM Friday to see what other science books and resources bloggers are sharing.  Review copy provided by publisher.