Elinor Wonders Why, The Search for Baby Butterflies

Three friends, Elinor, Ari, and Olive, are in the park with Ari’s dad and baby sister, Miri. The girls are commenting on how cute Miri is and how she looks like a miniature version of her dad and brother.

The children decide they want to butterfly watch, and Olive is interested in caterpillars, too. Through their observations, they notice the patterns on the butterflies’ wings and the stripes on the caterpillars. They see that the butterflies get around by flying and that the caterpillars move with their many legs. While they can find baby spiders and snails, they cannot see any baby butterflies. On their search, they find a caterpillar turning green and forming a chrysalis. Then they see a butterfly emerge from a chrysalis. They have witnessed metamorphosis and understand that caterpillars go through a big change to become butterflies. Caterpillars and butterflies are the same animal and caterpillars are baby butterflies.

The scientific principle of Observation is described in this story. At the back of the book, there is a list entitled “Terrific Transformations”. The list includes:

Dragonflies, that start out as dull coloured larvae in ponds and emerge as brightly coloured adults with wings.
Honeybee larvae, that live in tiny cells in their beehive until they grow wings.
Frogs, that start as eggs that hatch into tadpoles and then turn into frogs that go onto land.

The last page of the book has two inserts. One inset box gives an explanation of the term “larvae”, with examples such as caterpillars, maggots, and grubs. Insects, frogs, and some salamanders are eggs first and then become larvae.

The inset box with the heading “More Observations” give suggestions for finding butterfly eggs. “Look under the leaves of milkweed flowers, daisies, asters, or snapdragons. When you find some eggs, check back later to see if they have transformed into chrysalides.”

The full-colour, full-page illustrations in cartoon format support the text. The butterflies, chrysalides, and other insects are drawn realistically to help children understand the vocabulary, (larvae, metamorphosis, chrysalis).

Young children will enjoy reading Elinor Wonders Why, The Search for Baby Butterflies or having it read to them.