By Kaylie Seed
Geraldo Valério has always found butterflies to be fascinating and enjoyed watching them transform—from caterpillars to chrysalides to finally becoming butterflies. Valério wanted to create a book where he could share his love of butterflies and their life cycle with children. My Book of Butterflies looks at the life cycle of butterflies, where butterflies live, and the parts of the butterfly, and then goes into detail about various butterflies found around the world. Valério’s passion comes through in My Book of Butterflies and will likely encourage children to learn more about these beautiful creatures.
Valério created the images of butterflies in his children’s book by layering paper into collages, which gives the butterflies a 3-D effect. The artwork is stunning, vibrant, and detailed, and is a nice complement to the scientific aspects of My Book of Butterflies. Valério shows each butterfly in its caterpillar state, with its wings open, and with its wings closed, to show just how unique each of these bugs are in their different states. My Book of Butterflies also mentions the butterflies’ scientific name, some interesting facts about each butterfly, and what they eat.
This is a fun and educating read for ages 7–9 as they start to learn about the world around them in more detail. My Book of Butterflies is a great resource for parents and children to learn about the different butterflies around the world while also being able to admire the gorgeous artwork that Valério has clearly put his heart into.
Thank you to Groundwood Books for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review!