Review - How to Be a Butterfly

How to Be a Butterfly
by Laura Knowles
illustrated by Catell Ronca
Date: 2019
Publisher: words & pictures
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book non-fiction
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Should a butterfly be big or small? Should it be bright and bold, or perfectly pale? A joyous, imaginative, yet informative non-fiction picture book about what it takes to be a butterfly – body parts, behavior and life cycle – with the underlying message that diversity is a wonderful thing and that, in fact, there are 20,000 ways to be a butterfly! With labelled butterflies throughout, there is plenty for young nature lovers to spot and explore time and again.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

How to Be a Butterfly is pretty to look at, and it does offer a basic explanation of what makes a butterfly a butterfly. However, I found the text self-contradictory at times, and it didn't really need to be. Multiple times, a statement will be made, only to have that statement negated a page later. For example, the book will state that to be a butterfly, you have to be big... but then it says you could also be small. This happens a few times, and I don't like it. Just present the facts without confusing readers!

There are many, many types of butterflies illustrated on the pages, and they're all labelled with their Latin names. The rest of the text is really sparse. We learn a little bit about the anatomy of butterflies and their life cycle, but for a non-fiction picture book, it's kind of light on facts. It's mainly a book of illustrations (so it's a good thing those are done well).

I think I expected a little more from this after reading the wonderfully informative We Build Our Homes from the same author. That book had lots of text and tons of interesting information. This book, on the other hand, is pretty to look at, but might not satisfy young lepidopterists' thirst for knowledge.

Thank you to NetGalley and words & pictures for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3.17 out of 5