Sign in or 
Share this
Butterfly Tale
FIXMAN, Jennifer, and Lynne WIKOFF., Illus. by Kristi PETOSA-SIGEL., A Butterfly Tale. Waipahu, Hawaii: Island Heritage Publishing (94-411 Ko’aki Street, Waipahu, Hawaii 96797), 2005. 28p. ISBN 1-59700-082-5 (hc), $11.99. Illus (col).
With a dainty leg and a sage expression, the butterfly gracing the cover of A Butterfly Tale beckons readers into the story, a wise teacher promising an instructive but engaging tale. Alas, the authors fulfill exactly half that promise. Even from the first couple of pages, savvy readers may scent a lesson coming. The book opens with three eggs on three different types of Hawaiian leaves. Predictably, when the caterpillars hatch, each thinks his leaf is best. Enter wise butterfly, who warns that only aloha can save them from becoming lunch for approaching hungry birds. The caterpillars go back to eating leaves, the birds make an exit, and the caterpillars survive to become butterflies.
Ironically, given the excessive discussions about aloha by the insects, the book’s central message ultimately confuses readers. For instance, young audiences may think “the spirit of aloha” means being quiet in the face of danger, as this is what actually saves the caterpillars from the birds, when “only the spirit of aloha” can. And the way to achieve aloha, according to the tale, is to “think with your heart,” which the caterpillars accomplish in mere moments, with no visible effort save to cease talking and eat leaves.
Readers failing to grasp this odd model of the aloha spirit will at least come away with three new Hawaiian words in their vocabularies – koa, laulele, and mamaki – italicized and repeated thrice on the first three pages of text. Unfortunately, once these plant names have been noted, nothing remains to draw children back to the story. With no real problem, no real solution, and a couple of holes, the plot disappoints. The supposed danger provides little excitement, as illustrations keep the birds indistinct and distant, except for one detail of claws. The writing lacks imagery, and dialogue is flat. (“Look at all the beautiful flowers,” said Koa Butterfly. “All kinds,” said Monarch Butterfly.) The illustrations are bright and cute but uninspired; save for the cover image, the wide-eyed, long-antennaed bugs have neither the depth of expression achieved by David Kirk in his Miss Spider books (Scholastic, 1990s) nor the energy of Michael Furuya’s insects (How the B-52 Cockroach Learned to Fly, Lehua, Inc., 1995; Wailana the Waterbug, Mutual Publishing, 1999).
With so little substance to captivate them, readers may give up before they reach the appendix. That would be regrettable, for the last three pages of the book feature a sweetly-illustrated, succinct explanation of a butterfly’s life cycle, marred only by the bizarre definition of pollination as “drink[ing] nectar from flowers and help[ing] more plants to grow.” OK, maybe not so regrettable.
For compelling Hawaii-based children’s stories which incorporate values coherently, try Tammy Yee’s Baby Honu stories (Island Heritage 1997, 1999) or Juliette Kono’s The Bravest ‘Opihi (Beach House 2005). These books have the added benefit of integrating Hawaiian words smoothly and naturally into the text, without the distraction of italics.
Jennifer Fixman, a fifth-grade teacher in Waialua, and Lynne Wikoff, a freelance writer and columnist, collaborated with Kristi Petosa-Sigel, an elementary school art teacher in Kailua, to present A Butterfly Tale. In addition to teaching, Fixman also writes songs for and heads the company Edutunes, which develops programs to help elementary school students learn various subjects through music. A photographer specializing in landscape, portrait, and floral photography, Petosa-Sigel has also illustrated children’s books and designed ads and logos.
The desire to support local artists may induce sales of A Butterfly Tale; certainly some Island residents will appreciate the authors’ efforts. Hawaii-based collections striving to include all picture book offerings with a local flavor will want this book; otherwise – Not Recommended.
With a dainty leg and a sage expression, the butterfly gracing the cover of A Butterfly Tale beckons readers into the story, a wise teacher promising an instructive but engaging tale. Alas, the authors fulfill exactly half that promise. Even from the first couple of pages, savvy readers may scent a lesson coming. The book opens with three eggs on three different types of Hawaiian leaves. Predictably, when the caterpillars hatch, each thinks his leaf is best. Enter wise butterfly, who warns that only aloha can save them from becoming lunch for approaching hungry birds. The caterpillars go back to eating leaves, the birds make an exit, and the caterpillars survive to become butterflies.
Ironically, given the excessive discussions about aloha by the insects, the book’s central message ultimately confuses readers. For instance, young audiences may think “the spirit of aloha” means being quiet in the face of danger, as this is what actually saves the caterpillars from the birds, when “only the spirit of aloha” can. And the way to achieve aloha, according to the tale, is to “think with your heart,” which the caterpillars accomplish in mere moments, with no visible effort save to cease talking and eat leaves.
Readers failing to grasp this odd model of the aloha spirit will at least come away with three new Hawaiian words in their vocabularies – koa, laulele, and mamaki – italicized and repeated thrice on the first three pages of text. Unfortunately, once these plant names have been noted, nothing remains to draw children back to the story. With no real problem, no real solution, and a couple of holes, the plot disappoints. The supposed danger provides little excitement, as illustrations keep the birds indistinct and distant, except for one detail of claws. The writing lacks imagery, and dialogue is flat. (“Look at all the beautiful flowers,” said Koa Butterfly. “All kinds,” said Monarch Butterfly.) The illustrations are bright and cute but uninspired; save for the cover image, the wide-eyed, long-antennaed bugs have neither the depth of expression achieved by David Kirk in his Miss Spider books (Scholastic, 1990s) nor the energy of Michael Furuya’s insects (How the B-52 Cockroach Learned to Fly, Lehua, Inc., 1995; Wailana the Waterbug, Mutual Publishing, 1999).
With so little substance to captivate them, readers may give up before they reach the appendix. That would be regrettable, for the last three pages of the book feature a sweetly-illustrated, succinct explanation of a butterfly’s life cycle, marred only by the bizarre definition of pollination as “drink[ing] nectar from flowers and help[ing] more plants to grow.” OK, maybe not so regrettable.
For compelling Hawaii-based children’s stories which incorporate values coherently, try Tammy Yee’s Baby Honu stories (Island Heritage 1997, 1999) or Juliette Kono’s The Bravest ‘Opihi (Beach House 2005). These books have the added benefit of integrating Hawaiian words smoothly and naturally into the text, without the distraction of italics.
Jennifer Fixman, a fifth-grade teacher in Waialua, and Lynne Wikoff, a freelance writer and columnist, collaborated with Kristi Petosa-Sigel, an elementary school art teacher in Kailua, to present A Butterfly Tale. In addition to teaching, Fixman also writes songs for and heads the company Edutunes, which develops programs to help elementary school students learn various subjects through music. A photographer specializing in landscape, portrait, and floral photography, Petosa-Sigel has also illustrated children’s books and designed ads and logos.
The desire to support local artists may induce sales of A Butterfly Tale; certainly some Island residents will appreciate the authors’ efforts. Hawaii-based collections striving to include all picture book offerings with a local flavor will want this book; otherwise – Not Recommended.
Submitted in May 2006 by Valerie Stackel, LIS Student, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
DrDrewHonolulu |
Latest page update: made by DrDrewHonolulu
, Jan 1 2008, 10:29 PM EST
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by DrDrewHonolulu
653 words added view changes - complete history) |
|
Keyword tags:
A Butterfly Tale
More Info: links to this page
|
There are no threads for this page.
Be the first to start a new thread.
