Bibliographic Information (APA): Polacco, P. (2000). The Butterfly. New York, New York: Philomel Books.
Brief Annotation: In this story a young girl lives in France during the Nazi occupancy. She learns that a Jewish family is staying in her basement when the girl from that family visits her in her bedroom one night. The girls form a friendship and meet every night to play. One night the girl brings the Jewish girl a butterfly to remind her of the outside world; they let the butterfly go as a representation of her one day being free. The neighbor happens to see all of this, so the Jewish family is forced to leave the country. That is the last time that the girls get to see each other, but after a few weeks pass there are suddenly butterflies filling the garden and the girl knows that it is a sign from the Jewish girl that her family is okay.
Genre: Patricia Polacco Book
Grade Level: 3-
Readers who will like this: Readers who are interested in learning more about history, the holocaust in specific.
Response/Rating (1-4): This book could help make a difficult concept for children easier to grasp. I think that it’s important that it left a feeling of hope. It did a good job of keeping the subject light enough for children to handle but yet descriptive enough to understand that it was a very scary and terrible time for many people.
One question you would ask before a read aloud: How many of you know about the holocaust and its effects on everyday kinds of people?
Finish adding the grade level range. You can use the Book Wizard site on Scholastic to help you with this determination. Remember to be consistent about the reading level vs. the interest level. This book definitely has themes that would match content in upper grade levels, don't you think?
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