The Butterfly

Polacco, P. (2000). The Butterfly. Illustrated by Patricia Polacco. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

Brief Annotation: Monique lives with her mother in Paris during World War II. She awakes in the middle of the night to what she assumes is a ghost. Her mother encourages her to not worry about the ghost, but instead to go to school and behave. The war has changed Paris and the Nazi's scare Monique and her friends. She awakes again and sees the ghost, trying to be brave she talks to it. She quickly realizes that it's not a ghost but a girl! The girl is Sevrine, and she is also living at Monique's house. Monique learns that Sevrine and her family are Jewish people who are hiding from the Nazi's in her mothers basement. The two develop a friendship and share magical moments of butterflies and flowers, trying to put the war in the back of their minds. One night a man sees the girls playing however and Monique tells her mother and Sevrine's family must leave. They bring the family and throughout a very scary excursion Monique is separated from her mother, but manages to get home. Although they are not sure if Sevrine and her family are safe, they are all of a sudden surrounded by beautiful butterflies and this brings them peace and hope.

Genre: Picturebook

Grade Level: 3rd - 8th Grade

Readers who will like this: Everyone will like this book. (Or at least they should). It is a more mature picturebook, with a lot of dialogue as well as a more adult subject matter. People who enjoy history and real life stories will love this book. It is also beautifully illustrated by Patricia Polacco, and brings us right into the story. The use of the Nazi's and other war issues in the book are fascinating and hopefully continue to shed light on the tragedy that occurred.

Response/Rating (1-4): 4, This book made me cry. It was so beautiful and is a story that should be shared all throughout the world! I think it's very important to remember our history and our recent past and this book does show an amazing true story of World War II survivors. It would be a great book to read out loud to students who are learning about World War II and although it's a very important subject matter, I think everyone should know this story.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: “What are some things you know about World War II?”

Reading Strategies: I would have the students do a Character Perspective Chart (Yopp & Yopp, 2010, pg. 78) and have them map out the story from the perspective of both Monique and Sevrine. I think they could learn a lot about the story and also about the different literary elements in the story too.