A Butterfly Is Patient

A Butterfly Is Patient is not only an informative book about the characteristics of butterflies, but also foster development of academic processes. The book gives exposure to new vocabulary words that relate to butterflies and insects and allows for use of context clues to figure it out, as well as giving vague statements such as butterflies being patient/thirty/poisonous and allowing for students to make predictions as to why they may be these things. The book also allows for inferences and insight into how butterflies do the things they do, and activates their prior knowledge of butterflies as well as the things in the environment butterflies interact with to make sense of their role in the world.

Author: Dianna Hutts Aston
Illustrator: Sylvia Long
Year Published: 2011
ISBN: 9780811864794

Summary

"A Butterfly Is Patient", written by Dianna Hutts Aston, is an informational book about butterflies that is complimented with the beautiful illustrations done by Sylvia Long. This book covers almost everything you could ever want to know about butterflies, from their life cycle, to specific migration patterns of some species. Each page states a personified characteristic of a butterfly and then goes on to describe in detail about that characteristic. For example, the page that states "a butterfly is patient" would be then have content and pictures that address how the life cycle from birth to adulthood is a long and gradual task for butterflies. The pictures and the content are detailed and realistic and you can truly get a look into the life of butterflies and see what they are all about.

Evaluation

Appropriateness: High
Authority: Medium
Accuracy: High
Liteary Artistry: High
Appearance: High

Questions

Does the book foster development of processes?

Does the book provide an opportunity for children to ask and answer their own questions?

This book provides many opportunities for children to ask and answer their own questions. The title itself even begs the question: Why is a butterfly patient? Each page that states a characteristic can have students and teachers asking students why is a butterfly this or that. Then these characteristic statements are accompanied by facts that relate to that statement or personified characteristic. The content that follows on the page is a brief description of why the butterfly exhibits this characteristic, but so detailed that there is nothing left to be desired. For instance students learn that moths came hundreds of millions of years before butterflies, but there isn't exactly an explanation as to why, or how. In sum, while informative there is that air of openness for students to form their own questions and inquiry from.

Does the book encourage children to think for themselves?

In a way, I believe this book does encourage children to think for themselves. As aforementioned, this book does a great job with it's description leading students to think about the whys, and hows. Even though the descriptions of the characteristics are quite clear-cut and explained well, they leave an air of mystery and wonder about them as they don't go into the full detail as to why, or how this happens. Such is the case when the book explains that butterflies get their nourishment from rotting fruit or minerals, but it doesn't necessarily give a reason as to why they specifically get their food from these sources, or why specifically these are their food source. I think that openness along with the illustration encourage the children to think critically and deeply about these questions that can arise.

Is the science topic addressed in ways that are appropriate to the lesson?

This book is specifically focused around an array of characteristics exhibited by butterflies and discusses their life cycle, eating habits, variance of species, migration patterns, namesake, and anatomy. I believe the book does a tremendous job of addressing all of these topics in concise, precise, and brief manner while using appropriate language and having engaging and vibrant illustrations that compliment the content perfectly. By having in essence a general statement about the qualities of butterflies and then going in depth it adds a relatability that acts as an access point for students to enter, ponder, and then learn about on each page. On every page, anytime a new butterfly is introduced or drawn it is labeled with its name, which I thought was great and informative for students.

Is the content based on sound scientific principles? Is it accurate?

This book is all about the different characteristics of butterflies. When a characteristic is stated, it brings up vocabulary that is related to that characteristic as well as data that supports this claim of a butterfly exhibiting this specific characteristic. Scientific principles that are explored are the butterflies body heat, their form and function, their life cycle, contribution to an ecosystem, as well as their evolution. While providing the names of each butterfly listed the information seems to be sound an accurate because of the use of specific vocabulary, and data that supports the claims the book is making about butterflies.

Does the book distinguish between fact and fiction?

This is a nonfiction book, so thus it looks at butterflies from a purely factual point of view. The facts throughout the book are in the content paragraphs on the pages, as well as in the pictures of the butterflies that accompany the text.

Are the illustrations clear and accurate?

The illustrations are extremely vibrant and accurate. From the all the different species of butterfly presented in this book, to their habitats and even length everything is quite lovely, engaging and compliment the text of which it shares the page with perfectly. Students can see every segment of the butterflies bodies, and distinguish one from another as they are discussed and explained in the text.

Is the book written at the level of your students?

This book cannot only be used for the levels advised in this book recommendation, but can be used for those who are at different reading levels. The pictures are wonderful and descriptive where you can tell what the text will be about just by looking at. For younger, and developmentally lower readers not only could the pictures be a boon for their comprehension, but also just reading the characteristic statements of "a butterfly is", with its repetitive nature, could help students learn new vocabulary and make predictions and form questions as to why, and how this is. On the other end, it provides interesting descriptions, and scientific vocabulary that can interest stronger readers and provided opportunity for inquiry, giving the student a strong base of information to start off on, and further inquire about a specific characteristic of their choosing.

Is there a multicultural component? Is it free from stereotyping?

In this book there isn't a multicultural component, and it is free of stereotyping. It does mention the geographic areas of which some of the butterflies are from or travel to, but it does not get into the culture surrounding butterflies and how they relate to people. With that said, there is room for inquiry and even culture study surrounding butterflies that can relate to their impact on society and the environment, as well as cultures in which the butterfly is seen as a symbol or how the butterfly has historically impacted that culture.

Is the book free from gender bias?

This book is free from gender bias. It presents everything as fact, and only has pictures of butterflies and their different characteristics. This is an excellent thing due to not discouraging young minds from thinking that science is only for men, or that even bugs are just a boys thing. This is crucial to the future of our students, especially, young women getting into science so that the field of science isn't so stratified.

Does the book show the close association between science and other disciplines?

The book focuses primarily on entomology, and more specifically lepidoptery (the study of butterflies and moths). I believe it can be associated with other disciplines such as literacy since you could not only use this book as a literary read aloud, but students also have to employ reading strategies in this book to convey meaning from it. This book as stated previously, could be a nice entry level text for students to decide on an inquiry project as it touches bases on many of the characteristics of butterflies. For instance if students were interested in migration paths of monarchs, or the differences in life cycles between butterflies and moths, this book gives great background knowledge, without going into too much detail about the subject. Just enough to get students interested.

Does the book present a positive attitude toward science and technology?

This book is very positive in it's attitude toward science. Not only are the illustration wonderful, vibrant, and engaging, but the information that accompanies these illustrations is informative without being too dense and wordy. As stated before, each page starts with a main idea of a personified characteristic of a butterfly, that follows the format "a butterfly is." Among the many that are described we have a butterfly is helpful, spectacular, creative, and magical. These descriptions in my opinion are positive and engaging and show butterflies in a way that is relatable and respectful and I feel that this care and treatment impresses on the reader an attitude that is the same towards the book and towards science.

Science Topics

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