The Butterfly Garden

Denise Gasta
illustrated by Gregory Michel

9/7/2003

Review by Molly

Nettie is a curious little girl who likes butterflies. During the summer she often goes to look for a butterfly garden. She has heard others talking about the garden however Nettie’s parents tell her it is only a nice tale and is not real. One day Nettie is delighted to follow a group of Monarch butterflies deep into the woods behind her house. She finds the garden, shares lemonade with the butterflies and has a wonderful day. When Nettie returns home she discovers her parents are worried. The woods are big, trails are confusing, and Mom and Dad do not want her to get lost. At last Nettie persuades her parents to come with her to the butterfly garden. Later when Nettie grows up she attends college where she studies butterflies!

I found The Butterfly Garden to be a book of much appeal. Illustrations by Gregory Michel are well suited to the tale wrought by writer Denise Gasta. The notion of a summer of halcyon days spent watching and sitting among butterflies is something for each of us to cherish. Writer Gasta’s Nettie is a likeable child. Nettie is notionate - as kids are, argumentative at times - as kids are, but Nettie is also ready to accept her parents instructions in spite of her desire to return to the garden.

I like the PDF eBook format for kids to use for their own eBook reading for pleasure. The PDF is easy for children to manipulate with a minimum of help from a parent. The Butterfly Garden should fit well into the school, home school and ‘read for pleasure’ program. Teachers will find the book valuable for their ‘nature’ studies as well. Will butterflies really drink lemonade? The book can serve as both discussion and experiment starter as teacher and student(s) first discuss the theory and then set out to learn whether or not butterflies really will sip a little lemonade.

From a teaching standpoint I found the vocabulary used in The Butterfly Garden to be a tad advanced for younger readers. The book should fit well as a ‘read to’ book for the 3-6 set, ‘read with help’ for the 6-8 and read alone for strong reader 8’s and older. As a help to teachers, parents and home schoolers a target audience noted on the cover and word list of vocabulary used in the back of the book would be advantageous. On the whole a charming work, happy to recommend.

You can find this book at Writer's Exchange E-publishing.