Welcome to today’s edition of Perfect Picture Book Friday!
I have the most gorgeous book to share!
I love butterflies, and although I’m not nearly as informed and well-organized as the wildlife biologist author of this book or the people in it, I do plant several of the flowers butterflies like, and I am careful never to cut down milkweed!
This book is wonderful both for its showcasing of beautiful butterflies and flowers and for its modeling of what kids can do to encourage butterflies to frequent their yards or windowsills and take care of butterflies so they’ll be around for future generations.
(And I apologize in advance for the picture quality of the interior shots – they look better in real life!😊)
Title: Butterfly Inn
Written & Illustrated By: Nancy Derey Riley
Publisher: Rolling Prairie Publishing, LLC, May 25, 2022
Suitable For Ages: 4-8, though there is a lot of informational back matter that older children will find interesting!
Themes/Topics: butterflies, nature, species protection
Opening: “We hop off the bus, then
we file through the door,
and enter the world
that we’ve come to explore.”
Brief Synopsis: From the publisher: “When the class discovers that butterflies need help, they build a butterfly garden at their school. As the butterflies come to the BUTTERFLY INN, the children watch the life cycle of the butterfly from hungry caterpillars through metamorphosis into adults.”
Links To Resources: the book itself is a tremendous resource. The back matter includes a glossary, the sheet music for a song made up of all the text in the book, “Butterfly Basics”, “Butterfly or Moth?”, “Caterpillar Chow”, “Nectar Needs”, “What Makes A Home”, “Do I Stay Or Do I Go?”, “Threats”, “What Can You Do?”, and a selected bibliography and additional resources. If sheet music isn’t your strong suit and you’d like to learn the tune to the song, Nancy has a clip of the first verse on her website HERE!
Why I Like This Book: A class field trip to a butterfly pavilion is the impetus behind the class planning and planting their own butterfly garden to help the sustain the butterflies in their part of the world. Extensive back matter gives a wealth of further information for kids who are interested in learning and doing more. The story does a lovely job of introducing young readers to many kinds of butterflies and the plants they need to flourish, the life cycle of the butterfly, and ways to help these beautiful, important creatures who are threatened by pesticides and habitat loss. Written in enjoyable rhyme which is fun to read aloud (and sing to the supplied music!), the text is both informational and entertaining. Much of it is also lovely, for example: “A shimmer of gold/and a glimmer of blue,/a splatter of spots/in a silvery hue.” The art is friendly and beautiful, and the class is nicely diverse. A great choice for home, classroom, and library!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 😊
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific blog links (and any other info you feel like filling out 😊) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! 😊
Susanna Leonard Hill 
BUTTERFLY INN certainly will appeal to children, especially those who love nature! Thanks for sharing this treasure, Susanna! Looking forward to adding this to our collection. 🙂
I like it so much, Susan! The art is beautiful, the story is interesting and fun, and there is a ton of information in the back. I’ve been reading it to my 5 week old granddaughter a page at a time 😊
Oh my gosh! I used to do the same with my children and grandson too! Books are such treasures! 🙂
Aww, thanks Susanna! You’re too kind! I’m so glad you and baby Charlotte Susanna enjoyed it!!
We both love it, Nancy! 😊
Looks like a really sweet book. Thanks for featuring it. I added it to my TBR list.
I hope you like it as much as I do, Maria! I think it’s beautifully done!
Thanks, Susanna! I think this is a great companion book to my PB debut coming out in March 🙂 .
Wait! You must remember my brain is a sieve! What book do you have coming out in March, Jennifer? I need details!!! 😊
What a perfect book! I’ve been seeing butterflies out and about…
Oooh, I can’t wait to read this one! Looks great!
Looks like a fabulous book to inspire kids to plant butterfly-friendly plants! I have an auth-illo friend who’s done tons of research on this for a masters she’s doing about communicating environmental concepts, and she discovered that there are several plants that are commonly stocked in nurseries as “butterfly-friendly” but really are the opposite. Does this book talk about that?
What an inspiring book and perfect for classroom and backyard activities. Kids would have fun designing their own gardens. Thanks for sharing!
Once I ate a butterfly. Turns out it was NOT as delicious as I was hoping, but it sure did get everybody excited, so it was worth it. When Mom was a teacher, her class raised butterflies every spring and set them free in the schoolyard. I wasn’t invited on butterfly day for obvious reasons….
Love and licks,
Cupcake
I love butterflies too, and I love the project that is explored in the book. What a great way to encourage children and schools to do something similar. I assume, since the author is a wildlife biologist, that the butterfly and moth life cycles are correctly described for children. It always saddens me to see them incorrectly protrayed.
Wonderful book to encourage some fun nature-filled activities!