Butterfly Count

Children's Literature

Amy joins her mother and other volunteers on the annual, nationwide Fourth of July Butterfly Count, to identify and count the surviving species of butterflies. They are searching on land that her great-great-grandmother, Nora Belle, donated as a sanctuary. Missing for years has been the regal fritillary, Nora Belle's favorite. After a day of discovering many beautiful butterflies, Amy stops at Nora Belle's grave, to find that the sanctuary has finally welcomed Nora Belle's favorite species back. After a slow start, the story builds suspense as Amy searches. Kratter's double-page, naturalistic watercolors depict the surveying with tints of blues and greens and, in the foregrounds, the details of flowers, grasses and of course, some butterflies. Low-key and attractive, bits of natural history are conveyed in a sympathetic, if fictional format. Several pages detail and describe various butterflies, and there are factual notes as well. 2002, Holiday House, $16.95. Ages 4 to 8. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz AGES: 4 5 6 7 8

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-A gentle family story with an environmental message. Amy and her mother are taking part in the Fourth of July butterfly count on a stretch of land that belonged to the girl's great-great-grandmother and was turned over to a conservation group for a prairie restoration project. Nora Belle's favorite butterfly, a regal fritillary, is now rarely seen, but is the one that Amy is hoping to find. With the help of a field guide, she lists the numerous species she encounters and finally spots the elusive species in the family's burial plot, which stands on "the last patch of prairie in the county that was never plowed." Soft watercolor illustrations of prairie grasses, plants, and butterflies quietly illuminate this tranquil tale. Information about and portraits of 14 butterflies are offered at the end of the book, along with details on how to take part in the North American Butterfly Count and how to obtain a guide for planting a butterfly garden.-Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Butterfly fans will flutter happily about this tale of a child joining the annual nationwide butterfly census in hopes of spotting a once-common, now-rare regal fritillary. Identification guide in hand, Amy floats through the fields of wildflowers and high grasses that used to be her great-great-grandmother Nora Belle's farm, and is now run by a prairie reclamation project. She sees mourning cloaks and monarchs, painted ladies, red admirals, and black swallowtails-but not the fritillary that was Nora Belle's favorite. To Amy's evocative roll call, Kratter (A World Above the Clouds, not reviewed, etc.) adds naturalistic watercolor portraits, both in leafy natural settings and in a final section of captioned close-ups. Collard (A Firefly Biologist at Work, not reviewed, etc.) brings Amy's quest to a satisfying end in the old family plot where Nora Belle is buried-one of the few patches of prairie that has never been plowed. He adds more about the yearly Fourth of July Butterfly Count at the end, along with safety-conscious advice for young naturalists interested in attracting and observing these flighty wonders. (Picture book. 7-10)