What a beautiful story. A little girl finds and saves a tiny "worm" from a hungry Jay. She takes the caterpillar to her grandfather, who then helps her build a butterfly box. They decorate it together, and eventually, when the butterfly breaks out of its cocoon and becomes a beautiful butterfly, they let it go back into the wild, their garden.

This is rather a simple story at first glance. The art work by Greg Shed can only be described as "delicious." Soft colors, well blended and mellow, along with very accurate details of flowers and wildlife, make this book a treasure to view. Like so many children's books, the pictures can be enjoyed, even without reading the words.

Now as to the text is this particular book. I found it absolutely delightful. More prose that anything else, it not only precisely informs as to how to raise a butterfly, but it very well illustrates the love between the grandfather and granddaughter. Now I am not as sophisticated as those folks who write for Publisher's Weekly, who's almost incoherent review seemed to feel the syntax was a bit "treacly." I found nothing overly sweet or cloying what-so-ever. I do hope I never become so sophisticated either. How boring! I suppose that lines such as "How strange to think my grandpa once was young like me. " We would have been best friends if I'd been there back then," I said. My grandpa smiled. "It worked out anyhow, we're best friends now," was a bit over the top for them.

Anyway, when the little girl grows up, she lives in the same house her grandpa did. Her garden is just as beautiful and is filled with butterflies each year. She, an old woman now, feels the butterflies have told generation after generation of other butterflies how she saved one of their own, years ago, ergo, that is why the older lady now has more butterflies in her garden than anyone else in the area.

The book concludes with detailed instructions on how to raise butterflies, how to build a butterfly house and what to do after they have "hatched."

I liked this work. The kids I read it to liked it and I do highly recommend it.
Butterfly House
D. Blankenship

Butterfly House is a story about a girl, her grandpa, and a butterfly. The girl saves a larva from a jay and puts it in a jar, and then a box. When the butterfly hatches, she has to let it go. But when she grows older, every spring the painted ladies come to visit her.
This book would be good for read-alouds at school, because it's a good story and kids can learn about nature and kindness. It would be especially good for kids who like butterflies. But it might not be good for kids over eight years old. Also, some kids might not find the characters exciting.

I was very happy with this book. I loved it and so did my class. I plan to use it for many years to come.

This book is about a girl who saves a caterpillar
from a hungry blue jay. The girl keeps the caterpilar until it is a butterfly. My favorite part is when they make the caterpillar's little house. I LOVE the illustrations.I'd recommend this book to people who like butterflies.

I saw a copy of BUTTERFLY HOUSE and bought it right away because I was attracted to the love and warmth that the book radiates through its story and illustrations on one of my favorite subjects, the butterfly. Butterfly lovers can look for MALINDA MARTHA MEETS MARIPOSA too, different in that it features the Monarch rather than the Painted Lady and different again in that it offers the dimension of acting out the life-cycle as a play. Similar is the love for the butterfly that the children will experience in each book. One doesn't seem complete without the other. Together a child will build a life-time of love and knowledge on this subject.